Come home
by Laura T
Summary: Gibbs hasn't left. Tony leaves to be with Jeanne. Someone gets sent undercover to bring him home. Slight Tiva and TonyOC. Please R & R. Thank you.
1. Authors Note and Disclaimer

Authors note and disclaimer:

I unfortunately don't own any of the NCIS team. Only the original characters are mine.

A/N: I've rewritten this story to make it better. Hopefully. Please stick with me and I'll try and update as soon as I can. There might be Tiva but it is mainly Tony/OC.

Any and all reviews would be greatly received thanks.


	2. Probies Probie

Walking into NCIS headquarters the young woman took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She walked up to the main desk and cleared her throat. The desk sergeant looked up.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm here to see Special Agent Gibbs."

"What's your name?"

"Alex Larkin." The sergeant typed her name into the computer and waited. Within a couple of seconds the sergeant turned to her and said, "Go on up Miss Larkin. Special Agent Gibbs is waiting for you." Alex walked towards the lift and stepped inside. Arriving at the designated floor she stepped out and was immediately confronted with a tall man with grey hair. "You're late." He said and walked away from her. Unsure of what to do she looked at another man. He was tall with dark hair and blue eyes. "Well go probie." Alex nodded and hurried after the grey haired man. He had walked into the centre of the room and stood next to a desk on the left hand side. "Special Agent Larkin, this officer David and Special Agent DiNozzo." Alex nodded her head at the man and woman. The one named DiNozzo said, "Ah this must be probie's probie." He walked up to her and looked her up and down. Shaking his head he turned to Gibbs and asked him, "How come probie gets a good looking probie while I got him?" he asked pointing towards the man that had also greeted her at the lift. The man approached her and introduced himself, "I'm Special Agent McGee. Ignore him. He's an idiot." He said tilting his head towards DiNozzo. "Probie! That is no way to talk to the new guy." Turning towards her he said, "Hi. I'm Anthony DiNozzo. You can call me Tony."

"Nice to meet you Tony."

"She's not your type Tony." Officer David said as she walked over with her hand outstretched. "I'm Ziva. Please call me Ziva." She frowned and the women shook hands.

"And how would you know my type Zeevah?" Tony asked her. Ziva didn't answer and instead walked back towards her desk. Alex looked at the man she assumed was Gibbs. "You sit over there." He said pointing to the desk on the other side of McGee's. Alex opened her mouth to ask a question when McGee said, "Don't ask." Alex shook her head and placed her stuff on the floor and waited. "Special Agent Larkin do you have your credentials and weapon?" Gibbs asked her.

"Yes Sir."

"Good. Lets go."

"Yes Sir."

"Don't call me sir." Gibbs said as he walked towards the lift. Alex followed the rest of the NCIS team. Alex was sitting in the front of the Government Issue car while Gibbs was driving. Ziva, Tony and McGee were in a car behind them. The journey to the crime scene was uneventful and silent. Alex got out of the car and breathed in deeply. "You ok Larkin?" Gibbs asked her.

"Yes boss. Just getting my head on straight and relaxing." Gibbs nodded and walked towards a short man with glasses. "What we got Duck?"

"Gibbs. I've barely met the deceased. I can tell you that this Petty Officer died of blunt force trauma. What took you so long to arrive Jethro?" Gibbs looked back towards Alex.

"Newbie. Didn't want to subject her to Ziva's driving. Traffic was murder too."

"She didn't mind yours?"

"Nope. Didn't faze her in the slightest."

"Interesting. I'm going to take the body and start the autopsy."

"Ok Ducky." Gibbs walked under the yellow tape and Alex followed him with the rest of the team. "DiNozzo! Sketch."

"On it boss." Tony walked away and started to sketch the lay out of the room. While Gibbs gave the rest of the team their assignments. "Ziva, shoot, McGee! Take that laptop back to the lab when these two have finished. Larkin your with me. Come on." The pair walked out of the crime scene and began taking the witnesses statements. Tony looked out of the window at Gibbs and the new woman. "That's never happened before." He muttered more to himself than the other two.

"What?"

"Gibbs. He never does the interviews." Tony shrugged his shoulders and took more photos. He stopped and sighed, "You know this is very Hitchcock."

"Actually its more like Wes Craven." Alex said from the doorway. She hadn't been in the room long and couldn't help but notice all the blood. It looked like something out of a Wes Craven movie. "That man is one sick son of a bitch."

"I'll have to agree with you there probie. I mean come on! _The Hills have eyes_? Not to mention _Scream_ and all of its sequels…wasn't very impressed the first one was brilliant though." Ziva and McGee groaned and left the pair to argue about movies.

"See _Scream_ didn't bother me as much as _The Hills have eyes_. That scared the living daylights out of me. Which of course meant I didn't see the sequel. You like movies huh?" Alex asked him.

"Yeah. They are brilliant. Although you probably like the newer films as opposed to the older films. Am I right?"

"Yeah. You are. But I've never seen the big attraction to films such as _Casablanca, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast at Tiffany's_. Never understood what all the fuss was about." Alex shrugged her shoulders. Tony looked at her in a mixture of amazement and horror. Gibbs walked into the room and said, "Lets go back to NCIS. We got work to do not standing around here discussing Tiffany being pretty in pink."

"Actually boss that's…" Tony started but Gibbs just slapped him on the back of the head. "Sorry boss."


	3. Reconstruction

Back at NCIS headquarters Alex set about writing up her notes and making a new folder on her computer so she could write her report accurately when the time came. "What you doing probie?" McGee asked her. Startled Alex turned to face him.

"I'm organising my notes and observations so that I can write my report properly when the time comes." She turned back to her computer wrote a couple of more sentences and said, "Done. Now what?" she asked McGee. McGee just stood there and stared. "What?" she asked confused.

"You type really fast." He uttered in disbelief.

"Yeah. Always have." She replied smiling. Before McGee could reply Tony came in and walked over to the pair.

"What's going on over here?" he asked confused. McGee opened and closed his mouth. Frowning Tony said, "Spit it out McGee."

"She can type really fast. I mean really fast."

"And this is what has you speechless?" Tony asked him, before McGee could say anything Tony said, "McGeek you seen the boss?"

"No Tony. Don't call me that. I'm not the probie anymore." McGee complained. Tony flashed Alex a smile to which Alex just smirked and got out of her chair. She walked to the centre of the room towards where Ziva was sitting at her desk, stopped and turned to look Tony up and down. Tilting her head to the side she said, "You ain't all that." Ziva looked at Alex and smiled. Before Tony could reply Gibbs came down the stairs from MTAC.

"DiNozzo! Where are we with our dead marine?" Gibbs asked him. Tony just stood there looking at Gibbs. "Well?" Tony looked at Alex and then at Gibbs and said, "Well boss…I haven't actually found anything. Yet." Gibbs looked at Tony and then turned to McGee.

"McGee what have you got?"

"I'm looking at his bank records to see if there has been any major deposits or withdrawals." Gibbs then looked around the room and suddenly said, "I'm going down to see Abby. Alex come on."

**Down in Abby's lab:**

As they approached the lab Alex could hear some heavy metal music coming from the lab. When she entered the lab Alex was surprised to see a woman standing in very big boots, a short black skirt and a white lab coat. When she turned around Alex noticed a spider web tattoo and that the woman had tied her dark hair up into pigtails. When Gibbs entered the room the woman skipped over to him and gave him a big hug. It was only then that Alex noticed that she also had on a studded dog collar. When Abby pulled away from Gibbs she turned and looked at Alex.

"Whose the Newbie?" she asked him. Gibbs looked at Alex and then back at Abby.

"That is probie's, probie. What ya got for me Abs?"

"Well this is interesting. He had a lot of pharmaceutical grade antibiotics in his system. But this was for some fever that he had just before he died. He also had something else in his system but my mass spec can't seem to identify it. Can I have my Caf-Pow now?" Gibbs handed her a big container of red liquid with a straw. Abby took a couple of gulps and then turned to Alex, "Hi. I'm Abby, I'm your forensic scientist." She held out her hand and Alex shook it and then said, "Alex." The two girls stood chatting for a little while and Gibbs left. Alex was looking around the lab very impressed. She really wanted to ask questions but was slightly afraid to do this. Sensing her discomfort, Abby took pity on her,

"What would you like to ask?" Alex blushed.

"Well I noticed something on the marine at the crime scene and I was wondering if you would humour me?" Abby motioned for her to continue. Taking a deep breath Alex started, "Well we know that the cause of death was blunt force trauma correct?" Abby nodded, "And we don't know what could have done it. Could the ME take an impression of the wound and then you try and identify it?" Abby smiled at her. She walked over to the main table in the lab and hit a number,

"Ducky!" she shouted into it. The man sighed,

"Yes Abigail?" Abby frowned but carried on.

"Could I have an impression of the wound from the marine?"

"Yes. I'll send Mr Palmer up as soon as I have it."

"Thanks Duckman." Abby hung up and looked at Alex grinning from ear to ear. She frowned,

"I don't know if my computer will be able to do anything with the impression." Alex grinned at her,

"I know you're humouring me and that your computer would be able to do it in seconds. So how about you have some fun with this one?" Abby smiled at her again.

"I like fun. What kind of fun?"

"Have you ever done a reconstruction on a dead pig before?" Abby shook her head looking mortified.

"You grab various weapons and you just whack a dead pig with them to see if the impressions match up. Obviously a pig because its the closest thing to a human…ironically." Seeing the looks on Abby's face she quickly added, "However if you don't feel comfortable you could just do it on your computer." When Abby didn't speak Alex said,

"Never mind. I think I'd better go. It was nice meeting you Abby." She left the lab quickly and headed up to the squad room.

**Squad room:**

When Alex arrived up in the squad room the rest of the team were standing in front of the plasma.

"What can you tell me McGee?" Gibbs asked him. McGee grabbed the clicker,

"Well boss, there's been no activity on any of his accounts for the last few weeks, I've flagged all of his cards since we didn't find any in his wallet at the scene, I've also put out a bolo on his car and I'm trying to get a hold of his CO at Quantico." Without turning around Gibbs said,

"What about you DiNozzo?" McGee passed the clicker to Tony. He grinned,

"Well boss…" he trailed off and the smile slid from his handsome face, Alex walked behind him and whispered in his ear. "I noticed at the crime scene that our dead Petty Officer that he had been hit with something circular so I asked Ducky to make an impression and send it up to Abs." Gibbs smiled,

"That's excellent work Larkin. Ziva?"

"I am currently trying to find out if our Petty Officer had any enemies. He had at least one. I am waiting to hear from my contacts." Ziva walked back to her desk and sat down. Gibbs walked between Tony and Alex and slapped them both on the back of the head,

"DiNozzo, you ever take credit from someone else's ideas and you won't have a job and Larkin, you ever do that again and neither will you. I'm going to see Ducky." Alex looked at Tony sheepishly,

"Sorry Tony." Tony smiled at her and sat down. She walked to her desk and sat down wondering what to do with herself. She was typing up her notes when she walked up to the plasma.

"McGee? Could you put photos of the crime scene up here and show me how to work the clicker thing?" McGee put the photos up with a tap of a few buttons and joined her.

"Just point at the photo you want to look at and use the left button to select it and use the right one to zoom in. That's it." Alex smiled at him and he sat back down. She was looking through the photos one at a time something was bothering her. When she had first entered the crime scene she had noticed a lot of blood but now that she was looking at the photos something was definitely amiss. She quickly looked through the rest of them and came to the conclusion that she wasn't going nuts and that she hadn't missed it because it wasn't there. Smiling to herself she said,

"Who took the photos?"

"I did." Ziva answered walking up to her. "Did I miss something?" Alex turned to look at her.

"No. How could you miss something if it wasn't there to begin with?" Alex smiled at the confused expression on Ziva's face.

"What do you mean probie?" McGee asked. She turned to him this time.

"What can't you see?" she asked him. McGee looked at the screen as Alex clicked through the photos. After a few minutes of looking McGee gave up and looked at her,

"What am I missing?" she smiled and turned to Tony who was still sitting at his desk.

"What about you Tony? Do you wanna give it a go?" she asked him. Tony stood up and flicked through the photos.

"Well there is a lot of blood there. We commented on it. But other than that I'm not seeing it."

"There's no ceiling. In any of these photos." They looked at her in confusion.

"When you hit someone with a blunt object, the first hit is free no blood as you all know but after that it goes everywhere, on the floor, on the walls, on the attacker and on the ceiling." She turned to Ziva, "Now if there was blood on the ceiling you would have taken a photo. Correct?" Ziva nodded and smiled. Alex let out the breath she hadn't even realised she had been holding. McGee smiled at her,

"That's nice work probie." He looked up and saw Gibbs walking towards them, "Boss the crime scene was staged."

"You only just figure that out McGee?"

"Well boss it was Larkin that did. She noticed that there was no blood on the ceiling." Gibbs turned to look at her and smiled,

"Good work. Now try and find my original crime scene." Alex opened her mouth in shock. How was she supposed to do that?


	4. Lightbulb

Alex was sitting at her desk, two hours later, thinking of a way to find the original crime scene when Gibbs called her over.

"Yes boss?" Gibbs looked up at her.

"Abby wants to see you." Alex looked confused and went down to the lab. As she waited in the elevator she thought of all the things Abby would want to see her about. _There's nothing. I mean I didn't exactly make the best first impression_ she thought to herself. The doors dinged at her and she walked into the lab. Seeing that Abby wasn't there she peered through the glass doors into the ballistics lab and still couldn't see her. Frowning she turned around and went to leave when Abby came out of the elevator.

"Ah thank god I caught you before you went back upstairs. I'm downstairs in the evidence garage. I didn't tell Gibbs. Come on." She grabbed Alex's hand and pulled her into the elevator smiling as she did so. When they got into the evidence garage Alex immediately noticed a dead pig hanging up and a couple just lying on the floor, she turned to look at Abby in confusion.

"You were right. Forensics should be fun. I must admit I had never thought a reconstruction would be fun. These little piggies had already been killed and weren't going to be used for meat so I have no problem hitting them with stuff. I thought you would want the first crack at them." She grinned at the new girl and handed her a visor, which she had borrowed from Ducky. Placing one on her own head and pulling out her pigtails and beckoned Alex towards the pig handing her a baseball bat, that was covered in ink, as she did so.

"Batter up." Alex swung the bat a couple of times before she actually went to hit the pig. As she swung the bat, as hard she could, the pig barely moved. Frowning she hit the pig again and didn't so much as dent the pig flesh. She turned to Abby in confusion.

"Am I doing this wrong?" Abby frowned and took the bat off her.

"No. Let me try." Abby swung the bat herself and it barely made a dent. "I think we need someone who is angry. Maybe we aren't hitting it hard enough?" Alex shrugged.

"Maybe. But who in this building could be so angry that they could hit that hard enough?" Abby smiled and called up to Gibbs. A couple of minutes later Ziva walked into the evidence garage. While Abby explained to Ziva why there was a pig hanging up Alex had a look around. Behind a metal mesh there was a person standing behind a counter and behind him there was boxes and boxes stacked on top of each other. Before she could ask what it was up there, there was a loud thumping sound. Alex looked towards Abby and Ziva, Ziva clearly wasn't happy. She wondered over to them,

"What happened?" she asked them.

"Nothing. Is that normal?" Ziva asked.

"Yes it is. You just eliminated any women as a suspect. So now we need a man." Alex said. Abby again went to the phone and called Tony. Gibbs followed Tony; he had gotten curious about where all of his team were going. Seeing the pig hanging up Gibbs looked at Abby and then back at the pig,

"Abs what's going on here?" Abby looked at him and grinned.

"Hey Gibbs. Reconstruction. You like it?"

"You have a computer for that."

"But Gibbs science should be fun. Although us girlies are finding it very annoying. I need Tony to hit this pig with this baseball bat." Abby handed Tony the bat and he walked up to the pig and hit it. The pig swung from the cables that were holding it in place and Tony grinned.

"Did I pass?" Abby smiled and grabbed her camera and took photos of the ink pattern that it left.

"Yes. Now try with this." She handed him a tyre iron and Tony proceeded to hit the pig. After every weapon Abby would take a photo and hand him a new one. Half an hour later the team had their answer.

"It was a tyre iron that killed him and it was man that did it." Abby clarified. Gibbs nodded and walked towards the elevator.

"Larkin you found the original crime scene yet?" he called as the silver doors slid closed.

"Crap! I forgot. See you later Abby." Alex grinned at her and left to go back to her desk.

**Squad room:**

Alex was sitting with her head in her hands. She had been trying to figure out a way of finding the first crime scene but was turning up empty. A voice startled her,

"You goin' home probie?" Alex turned and saw Tony smiling at her. She shook her head,

"No not yet. I'm gonna try for a couple of more hours. But you have a good night." She smiled at him and he waved as he walked away from her. She peered around the partition as he did so and grinned. The others had already left and Gibbs was somewhere, lurking, she suspected. She pushed her keyboard towards the monitor and crossed her arms and placed her head on top. Her last thoughts were about Tony hitting that pig with a tyre iron.

**The following morning:**

Alex was dragging something, it was heavy, very heavy and she was struggling. It was wrapped in blue plastic sheeting, which should have made the dragging easier but it really wasn't. She looked around. There was nothing available to help her with her task. The grass was dry, so it was adding friction to the task. She eyed the wooden steps wearily and sighed. She dropped her burden and sat down for a couple of minutes to regain her strength and her breath. She stood up and started lugging the burden again. As she neared the steps the plastic sheeting caught on something and she pulled a leg came free. As she looked closer at it, she realised it wasn't a leg but a trotter. As she pulled the sheeting free of its snagging she went to cover it but staggered back. It wasn't a trotter at all it was a human foot in black boot.

"What do you think she's dreaming about?" Tony asked McGee as they watched Alex sleep.

"I don't know. She looks kinda peaceful though." McGee tilted his head slightly as they carried on looking at her. Alex suddenly sat up saying,

"Oh!" she scrambled out of her seat and hurried towards the elevator. Gibbs came down the stairs and said,

"What have we discovered so far?" McGee and Tony were still looking at the elevator. Gibbs approached them and slapped them both on the back of the head.

"I'm not going to ask again." McGee regained his composure first.

"Well boss still no hits on the bolo and no hits on any of his credit cards. Abby's still working on the laptop." Gibbs turned to look at Tony.

"Well I got nothin' boss. Although I think Special Agent Larkin does." Gibbs looked around the partition,

"Where is she?"

"She went that way boss." Tony pointed towards the elevator and then sat down behind his desk and started to do some paperwork. Gibbs looked at Ziva.

"My contacts came back empty. We are back at rectangle one. Until we find the original crime scene and the murder weapon."

"Square Ziva." Gibbs said and then he sat down behind his own desk infuriated with frustration at just sitting at his desk.

**Autopsy:**

Alex bounded in spurred on by her idea.

"Dr Mallard?" she asked into the room. There was no one there. She was so busy looking around that she didn't hear Ducky come into the room. He cleared his throat and Alex's hand flew to her chest in shock. Ducky just looked at her,

"Really my dear? Was that really necessary?" he asked her chuckling. Alex dropped her hand and smiled,

"Sorry Dr Mallard. I thought you would appreciate some melodrama. Anyways would you mind if I had a look at the dead marine?"

"Please call me Ducky. What is it that you're looking for?" he asked her intrigued. Usually the newer agents never entered autopsy unless they absolutely had to and only with a senior agent with them. But here was this young woman coming in by herself.

"I'm looking for bruises. On his wrists to be exact. Did you notice any when you did the autopsy?" Ducky walked over to his desk and looked into the report.

"I did notice some discolouration around his wrists but nothing that would indicate exact bruising. It's like the bruises were smudged, for lack of a better term. But they in no way related to cause of death. They were post-mortem." Alex smiled,

"There was something between the killers hands and Petty Officers wrists. Could you tell me how heavy our Petty Officer is?"

"Yes he's two hundred and twenty three pounds give or take. He is after all dead weight."

"Thank you Ducky. Right off to see Abby." She waved and headed up the stairs to Abby's lab. No sooner had Alex left when Gibbs came in.

"Ah Jethro. You just missed young Alex. Here is your autopsy report. He died of blunt force trauma. Had a slight fever just before he died. But of course you already knew this. That's it. Nothing else to report." He smiled at Gibbs and waited, he didn't have to wait long. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him,

"That's it? What's going on Duck?" he asked the older gentleman.

"Alex has had a light bulb moment and I don't want to deprive her of her fun." He smiled at Gibbs as he strode towards the elevator.

**Abby's lab:**

As Alex came up the stairs she could hear music filtering down the stairs and smiled. She could only imagine how loud it was inside the lab when she opened the silver door and walked towards the progressively getting louder music. As she approached she could see Abby frowning at her computer screens. Alex cleared her throat just as the music was changing track causing Abby to jump.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." She said shuffling her feet in embarrassment.

"That's fine. I was just about to call Gibbs. Where is he?" she asked looking around Alex as if she was hiding him.

"He's not with me. But I do have a question. Have you had a chance to look at the marines clothing and evidence that we found at the scene?" Abby nodded,

"What you thinking?" she asked suspiciously. Alex grinned,

"Well you're probably going to think this is really weird but I was dreaming this morning and I had an idea. Would I be able to look at his boots?"

"Oh I have those all the time." She walked into another room and came out a few minutes later carrying the boots in her gloved hand. Alex grabbed a pair of gloves and looked at the backs near the heels. She smiled when she saw scratches on the right one but not on the left.

"What do you think made those?" she asked the tall girl.

"I don't know." She said clearly confused, _how had she not noticed those before?_ She thought to herself.

"Wooden steps maybe? Hindering the body being dragged?" Alex suggested. Abby clicked her fingers.

"Yes! I'll see if I can find microscopic traces of wood in the grooves. But why only on that foot and not the other one?"

"The body was wrapped in something. We didn't find it because the killer probably took it with him." Abby looked at her in amazement.

"Wow. What made you think of that?"

"Its something I would do. Now all I gotta do is tell Gibbs and the rest of the team and go back to the crime scene."

"But aren't you meant to be finding the crime scene?" Abby asked confused again.

"We already know where it is. It's outside. No way would anyone be able to drag a dead marine much further than what? A few hundred yards. Yes he was strong enough to kill him with a tyre iron but not strong enough to carry dead weight." Alex smiled again and headed for the squad room.


	5. Garden sheds and hospitals

Alex went to the squad room practically running towards her desk. She ran straight past it in her haste and then doubled back. She bent down to her bottom drawer and grabbed her gun and badge.

"Probie, what are you doing?" McGee asked her. She looked up to him smiling,

"I am going to find the first crime scene. I think I know where it is, but I'm not goin' to tell you guys where it is before I confirm it. Then you can bring everyone else. Gotta go before Gibbs catches me." She hurtled past McGee and nearly collided with Tony before heading down the stairs. Tony turned and watched her go before turning to McGee,

"Where's the fire?" he asked the younger agent. McGee just stood feeling a bit like a fish out of water,

"Er…she thinks she knows where the crime scene is. Wouldn't tell me. Gibbs is not going to be happy about this." Tony clapped McGee on the shoulder,

"It was nice knowin' you probie." Ziva had been watching the whole thing in amusement, she liked the new girl but she really was going to miss her. Gibbs came out of the elevator scowling,

"Uh oh. Good luck McGee." Tony said hastily sitting down at his desk and pretending to do some work. Gibbs stormed into the bullpen.

"Where is she?" he demanded of anyone. McGee gulped,

"Well boss…she…uh…thinks she found the original crime scene. Wouldn't say where, grabbed her gun and badge and said she would call if it panned out." Gibbs glowered at him and then sat down, fuming. He would be having words with her.

**Crime scene:**

Alex pulled up to the crime scene and gulped, she really shouldn't have come by herself and without telling Gibbs but she just had to know if her instincts were right. She didn't want Gibbs to see her fail. She climbed out of the car and looked around. There was no one around, no neighbours for at least a five-minute walk in either direction, no neighbour straight opposite the house. This was the perfect place to kill someone and have no witnesses. She walked under the yellow crime scene tape and proceeded to get onto her hands and knees. She knew what she was looking for and if she was right, then the murder weapon was probably going to be in the bushes. She lay flat on her front, close to some prickly bushes and stuck her hand into the bushes. She pulled her hand back abruptly; the thorns had scratched her. Sighing she pulled out her little flashlight and shone it into the bushes, they were so thick the thin beam didn't penetrate very far and she had to stick her hand in again. More carefully this time, she felt around. Not feeling anything hard and cool she pulled her hand out and crawled a couple of paces and repeated her task. It took her three hours to go all the way around. She stood up and stretched out her back muscles. She had a headache and she was empty handed. Rolling her shoulders and neck muscles, she looked up to the sky. It had become overcast and cloudy, given the humidity of the day and the sunny weather the day before she understood why she had a headache. She was walking around the garden when she saw a garden shed about half a mile down the road. She smiled; _I wonder…_ she thought to herself. She pulled out her phone and called Tony,

"_DiNozzo._"

"Tony. Is he there? Just say yes or no." she could almost imagine Tony looking uncomfortable. Almost.

"_No. Where the Hell are you?_" he demanded. "_Gibbs is pacing like a caged tiger._"

"The crime scene. Get McGee to GPS my phone. Listen I found a…" she didn't get to finish her sentence when her vision went black. The last thing she remembered was her face hitting the brittle grass.

**Squad room:**

"Newbie?" Tony asked into his phone. He turned to McGee and clicked his fingers hanging up his phone.

"GPS Larkin's phone."

"What is it Tony? Where is she?" McGee asked as his fingers flew over the keyboard as he did so.

"She said she had found something but she didn't finish before she said what she had found. I'm gonna call the bossman. Find her McGee." Tony picked up his phone and dialled Gibbs.

"_Gibbs._"

"Hey boss, Larkin just called. Said she had found something."

"_Well? What did she find?_"

"I don't know boss. Line went dead before she could tell me. I got McGee GPS'ing her phone. Should know in a couple of minutes." Gibbs had hung up. Tony replaced the handset into its cradle.

"Found her." McGee frowned, "She's at the crime scene. What's she doing there?" Tony was about to answer when Gibbs stepped out of the elevator with coffee cup in hand.

"Well?" he demanded, he had a funny feeling in his gut.

"She's at the crime scene boss." Tony answered.

"Grab your gear. She wouldn't have gone there without good reason." Tony was strapping on his gun and badge when he said,

"Do I need to call Ducky?"

"No. Lets go." The team walked to the elevator and out into the humid air.

**Crime scene:**

The team arrived at the crime scene in record time. Of course Gibbs was driving. The climbed out of the car and pulled their weapons as they did so.

"Spread out. Find her." Gibbs ordered. They spread out, Tony and Gibbs took outside while McGee and Ziva went into the house. It was Tony who found her first, face down and cell phone in hand.

"Boss!" he shouted as he holstered his weapon and went over to her. Gibbs rushed over when he heard his senior field agent shouting for him. Tony looked up towards him,

"She's out cold. I've already phoned an ambulance." Gibbs nodded and looked in the direction that Alex's body was pointing in.

"What did she…" Gibbs squinted into the distance. "DiNozzo?"

"Yes boss?" Tony asked from next to Alex.

"Do you see that?" Gibbs asked pointing down the road. Tony stood up and looked.

"Is that a garden shed?" Gibbs asked him.

"Looks that way boss."

"Why didn't anyone check that out?" he asked annoyed.

"We assumed that it belonged to one of the neighbours down the street." Tony answered and braced for the inevitable head slap. He knew how the boss felt about assumptions.

"Rule 8 DiNozzo." He walked away to wait for the ambulance and slapped him on the back of the head as went past. By the time Gibbs got to the end of the path that led up to the house the ambulance was already there.

"Where's the patient?" one of them asked. Gibbs bristled; he hated people not being polite.

"What's your name?" he asked standing in front of the tall man.

"Turnbull. Now where is our patient?" he snapped as he attempted to push past Gibbs.

"She's round the back." Gibbs used his thumb to point over his shoulder. The paramedic's partner made to follow his partner but stopped just short of Gibbs.

"I'm sorry. He's been having a rough day and this call in at the end of his shift. I do apologise again." He left, pulling the stretcher with him, without waiting for Gibbs to comment. Gibbs shrugged his shoulders and followed them. By the time he came around the corner they had already strapped Alex to the stretcher and was wheeling her back towards the ambulance.

"Which hospital?" he asked Turnbull. The man ignored him and Gibbs sighed, "Tony go with her. I want an update as soon as you have one." Tony nodded and climbed into the back of the ambulance. Ziva and McGee came out of the house just as it pulled away.

"Is she gonna be ok boss?" McGee asked him.

"Yeah. Probably just a concussion. I'll deal with her when she's back up on her feet. Now I want you and Ziva to look in that shed. I'm going for coffee."

**Hospital:**

It had been a couple of hours since Alex had been wheeled into the hospital; she hadn't long been awake when Tony came into her little room. She smiled,

"Hi." She said sheepishly. Tony smiled and sat down in one of the blue plastic chairs.

"Hi yourself. You know you gave us quite a scare. Going off on your own like that. How you feelin'?"

"Headache. But I had that before I was smacked on the back of the head. When can I go home?" she asked him. Tony grinned at her,

"You have a concussion and they want to keep you for a couple more hours observation then you can go home." Alex sighed contentedly.

"That's good to hear. Really hate hospitals. Did you find the shed?" she asked him.

"Yeah we found it. Why do you hate hospitals?" he asked her.

"What was in it? Was I right? Come on I want details." She said ignoring his question. He held up a hand to calm her down.

"Hey. I don't know. I've been here with you. McGee and Ziva are probably checking it out. You'll know as soon as I do. So why don't you like hospitals?" Alex was saved from answering when a tall, dark haired man came in.

"Hi. I'm John. How are you feeling?" he asked Alex as he checked her chart.

"I'm fine. Just wanna go home." She smiled at him. Tony sniggered from his chair. The doctor turned to face him,

"Who are you? Because only family are allowed in here."

"I'm her fiancé. Now what's wrong with her?" Tony replied thinking quickly on his feet while Alex raised an eyebrow.

"She just has a concussion. You need to wake her up every couple of hours to make sure she's ok. I'll write a prescription for some pain medication. Just in case." Alex growled from the bed,

"She is right here! I can talk for myself thank you. Now what are the pain meds for?" she snapped at the doctor.

"It says in your chart that you suffer from migraines. The meds are just in case this concussion brings one on. Its been known to happen."

"I have some at home thank you very much. Now where do I sign out?" she said barely keeping the anger out of her voice.

"I'm still writing one. It won't hurt to have a few extra pills for them. Front desk." He turned on his heel and left the room. Alex looked for something to throw but when she found nothing she crossed her arms over her chest. Tony started to laugh out loud. Alex turned her glower on to him,

"What you laughing at?" she snapped at him.

"You are such a child. Come on. Do you want to get out of here or not?" this made Alex smile.

"Yes actually I would. Now turn around." She said as she pulled her clothes towards her. Tony merely stood there facing her grinning.

"Come on. Its nothing I haven't already seen. We are engaged remember?" he said cheekily. Alex rolled her eyes.

"You know Tony a girl likes to at least have a first kiss and a first date before they agree to marry someone. Now turn around." When he wouldn't turn around Alex threw a pillow at him, "Turn around or I tell Gibbs." That was enough of a threat to make Tony turn around. She quickly dressed and the pair walked towards the front desk.

"Yes. Hi! I would like to sign out please." She flashed her best smile at the receptionist. The little woman smiled at her and handed her the forms.

"Honey. I'm just gonna call Gibbs. He'll be worried about you." Tony winked at her while Alex rolled her eyes. She quickly filled in the forms and watched as the receptionist watched Tony pace in front of the doors. Alex cleared her throat,

"Is that it?" she asked the receptionist in annoyance.

"Here are your pain pills and the doctor also put you on a days bed rest." She handed her the pills and a doctor's note.

"What the Hell for?" Alex demanded as she grabbed the pills and the note, "Its just a damn concussion!" as she walked towards Tony.

"Oh yeah. She's definitely awake boss. Yeah the doc gave her some pain meds and a days bed rest."

"_You stay with her DiNozzo. Make sure she gets some sleep. Don't want her to die from a damn concussion._" Tony smiled.

"Do you want to talk to her?" Tony closed his phone; "I take that as a no. Boss says get well soon." Alex glowered at him and went outside into the rain.

"When did it start to rain?" she asked him. Tony frowned up towards the sky,

"I don't know. Come on lets get you home." Tony hailed a cab and gave the address to the driver.

They got there within half an hour and Tony paid the driver. Alex was already at the door and he jogged up her little path just as she opened the door. Inside the doorway she turned to face him smiling,

"Thanks Tony. But I got it from here." Tony shook his head,

"No. You need to be watched, besides Gibbs told me to stay with you to make sure you didn't die." He walked through the door. "So where's the kitchen?" he asked her smiling. Alex closed the door just as the first clap of thunder could be heard and she squeaked in fright.


	6. Q & A: Part 1

"The kitchen is through there. Excuse me." She ran up the stairs before Tony could even ask. He soon found the kitchen and through inspecting her cupboards found nothing that could be used for making something to eat. He smiled, he felt like he was looking in his own cupboards. Falling onto his usual back up he phoned his favourite Italian restaurant and ordered take out. He settled onto the couch and was about to turn on the TV when he noticed there were about thirty black boxes stacked on either side of the TV. He stood up and wondered over to the first pile and picked up the first box and took off the lid. His smile widened, inside were movies, and from what he could gather they were all in alphabetical order. _She really is just like me_ he thought to himself.

"Tony DiNozzo what the hell are you doing?" Alex said as she entered the living room. Tony almost dropped the box he was holding in shock. Alex laughed at him, "Did I scare you?" Tony scowled at her and put the box back down.

"No. You didn't. I was just admiring your movie collection. It almost rivals my own. Although I'm not anal retentive about what order they go in."

"Yeah. My best friend said I had OCD when it came to my movie collection. So you find something you want to watch?" she asked him as she walked over to the couch and pulled her duvet up with her. Tony frowned,

"Why do you have that with you?" he asked her. Pointing to the duvet she was holding.

"Well I'm sure you noticed how I squeaked before. I hate thunder and lightening. It's my safety blanket so to speak. As well as this." She pulled out her teddy bear to show him. "Now before you start making fun of me I suggest you put in a film and turn the volume right up."

"What do you want to watch?" he asked her as he turned back to the boxes.

"Back to the Future. Part two. Second box." Tony didn't even ask, he pulled out the second box and sure enough there was Back to the Future. He smiled and put it into the DVD player. He turned back towards Alex when the doorbell went Alex frowned,

"I'm not expecting anyone. Be right back." She made to get up when Tony stopped her,

"No its fine. I'll go." He exited the room and answered the door. She arched her back over the couch arm, trying to eavesdrop, but all she could hear was Tony laughing and saying something in Italian. When she heard the door close she settled back into the seat. She turned to look at the door when Tony walked back through carrying a pizza box.

"What's in the box?" she asked him.

"I ordered pizza. Where do I sit?" Alex moved her feet and the duvet so that he could sit down next to her. He moved next to her and pulled her feet over his knees and pulled the duvet over them. He opened the pizza box and breathed in deeply. "Mmm. Best pizza in Washington. Help yourself." Alex breathed in. She had to admit it did smell good. Tony was already tucking in, when Alex ventured to take a slice. Tony smiled at her as she nibbled at the crust.

"What?" she asked him pulling the slice away from her mouth. Before he could reply all of the electric went off as loud clap of thunder erupted. Alex whimpered and hunkered further down the seat.

"Excellent! Now we can talk." Tony said, even in the darkness Alex could tell that he was genuinely happy about this consequence. She frowned,

"Why do you want to talk? Wouldn't you rather watch a film or something?" she asked him, practically pleading with him. She could feel him chuckling as he said,

"No. I like to find out things about the people I work with. You know likes, dislikes, and hobbies. Traits if you will. Just so I know what to expect. So why don't you like thunder and lightening?" he asked her, figuring that if he started off with the mundane he could lead up to the good stuff later. Alex groaned,

"Ok. I'll play but only if you do. Which means if you ask me one, then I get to ask you one. One condition, if there is a particular question that either of us don't want to answer we have one free pass. Deal?"

"Deal. So…thunder and lightening?" he asked again.

"Well I moved around a lot when I was a child and when we lived in Greece, this one night, there was this horrific thunderstorm. I'm talking sounds like bombs going off above your head and the lightening I've never seen I do that before since. It turned the sky purple as it streaked across it. It would have been really pretty if it hadn't been for the noise. The lightening actually struck the house we lived in; it blew up everything, lights, the TV, the radio, computer. You name it, it blew it up it was that strong a surge. Greece isn't really equipped to deal with that sort of thing. My Mam used to say that the country was practically third world. So backwards. Ok my question, what's your family like?"

"Well my father disowned me when I was 12. I haven't seen him since I became a cop. He didn't really agree with my career choice, he wanted me to be a lawyer or something like that." Tony shivered, "Ugh. He sent me to military school not long afterwards, and then he married my first stepmother. That didn't last long; they were divorced after a year. He quickly went onto stepmother number two. After that I couldn't keep up. I think I'm probably on stepmother number five. But it could be more or it could be less. What's your favourite movie?"

"I love loads, but I guess if I had to pick one it would have to be Top Gun. I mean what's not to like? Men in uniform, regardless if it is Tom Cruise, although he could actually pull off those whites. Planes and the music. Love the soundtrack on that film. And of course the men in uniform." Tony chuckled,

"You already said that."

"Yeah I know but it like Has to be said twice. It is that good for men in uniform. What about you, favourite film?"

"Depends. On which genre you're talking about. It could be anything from Deliverance to anything with Frank Sinatra in it. Depends what mood I'm in really. Favourite colour?"

"That's easy. Blue. You?"

"Same. I guess. Or green. Why did join NCIS?"

"Because I wanted to be surrounded by men in uniform all day." Alex waited for this answer to sink in. When it did she could hear Tony choking on his pizza. She started to giggle.

"What? Is that a real answer? To be surrounded by men in uniform all day. What kind of answer is that?" Tony asked outraged. This made Alex start to laugh.

"Yeah that's my real answer. Well its half the real answer. I always wanted to go into law enforcement, I like forensics and things like that so I thought why not kill two birds with one stone?" Alex groaned her headache was getting worse. "Are those pills around?" Tony was out of the seat and in the kitchen getting some water and the pills before she could even blink in the darkness. She could just make out his outline as he came back,

"Here. Hold out your hand." Alex stuck her hand out, palm up, "One or two?" he asked after he had found her hand,

"Just the one. I don't like taking them." He handed her a pill and held the water out where her hand been a second earlier. She gingerly put her hand back out and felt around the for the glass, when she found it she took a long gulp and sighed,

"Thanks Tony. So it's my question. Hm what to ask…how many times have you nearly died working at NCIS?" Tony chuckled as he got himself comfy again.

"Twice. No three times. Those were pretty damn close."

"Oooh. Do tell." Alex said sounding intrigued.

"Well in the top spot is the time I caught pneumonic plague. That was an experience I'll never forget. This woman with a brain tumour had sent it in the post; I…uh…grabbed it out of McGee's hands before he could hand it off to Gibbs. It had this red kiss mark on it. A SWAK. It's the one and only time I've taken a shower with Gibbs. I got sent to Bethesda with Kate. She had a cold, so she was also susceptible to it. She wasn't happy, I tortured her with movie references. I told her I felt like the King of Cool and she thought it was…" he paused to think for a second, "Anyways I can't remember who she thought it was but she was wrong and then we started to argue again. She was fine. I wasn't I nearly died but thank god for modern times. The second time was my first day on the job after the plague, a car had been wired to explode. McGee had tripped the detonator switch. It was tied into the trunk and McGee was gonna open it. The only reason why I saw it was because Kate had kicked me over onto my back. I told them to run and that I was faster than them, at the time I really wasn't. I should have taken the extra week off. The car exploded and I got away just. And the last time was just recently; a car bomb had been strapped underneath my car. Luckily for me I was in the limo in front. Not a lot to tell on that one actually. So what about you? Any near death experiences?"

"Just the one. Its actually pretty mundane compared to the plague. My appendix burst. Nothing too exciting. I had been in pain before that and I just thought it was a stomach bug, a few months later and I had the same pain in my side. But as the day and night wore on the pain was getting gradually worse. The only time I wasn't in pain was when I was in the bath; it was nice not to be in pain. After a couple of days I got the doctor called out, he pushed on my stomach and said I had a stomach bug with cramp. He gave me some pills and went on his merry way. By the following afternoon I was in hospital being diagnosed from the flu to something being wrong with my ovaries. It was a nightmare. In the end the consultant came around and prodded my stomach and he ordered an emergency appendectomy. He told the junior doctor off in front of me, he was going to send me home. Idiot. By the time I was due in for surgery I was in so much pain. The nurse had diamorphine and she didn't want to give me all of it, so she told me to tell her when I was no longer in pain. She ended up giving me all of it. I was rushed into theatre. They stuck a camera in and they actually watched as my appendix burst. They were gangrene. I was lucky. Very lucky. I was laid up in hospital for a week afterwards; I had caught an infection off my appendix. Before my operation I was told the odds of getting an infection off my appendix and I was in the 2% bracket. Only me." She laughed slightly. Then took a deep breath she was going to try and ask a more personal question, "Who's Kate?" Tony turned to look at her, he could just make out her eyes slowly slipping closed.

"How about we go upstairs and put you in bed and I'll answer that question when you're more awake?" he replied standing up.

"That's your free pass?" she asked him tiredly.

"No. Its just a long story and you don't like you'll end up hearing even a quarter of it." He said, helping her up. Alex stood up and grabbed the blanket and teddy bear.

"You coming with me?" she asked him. Tony stopped folding the empty pizza box.

"What?" he asked. Alex rolled her eyes into the darkness.

"Tony we are both adults we can actually sleep together without actually sleeping together. I promise I don't bite. Now it's late and your car is still at the Navy yard. So come on up." Alex shuffled up the stairs and waited at the top for Tony. Tony looked up at Alex and the front door. _Oh well she is right. We are adults._ He took a deep breath and went up the stairs. On entering her room she turned to Tony and said,

"I'm just goin' to get changed and brush my teeth. Feel free to get into the bed." She closed the door to her bathroom; two minutes later Tony heard the tap running. Tony threw the duvet over the bed and stripped to his boxers and placed his clothes on the chair in the corner of the room. He was about to get into the bed when he suddenly felt very exposed and naked. The bathroom door opened and Alex plodded out.

"Erm…do you have a t-shirt I could borrow?" he asked her. Alex wondered over to the chest of drawers and knelt down to the bottom drawer. He could hear her rummaging around when she said,

"Ah ha! I knew this would come in handy one day." She chucked the item of clothing at him. As it hit him he caught it and felt the material frowning. It was rough and smooth and it had some sort of insignia on it.

"What is it?" he asked her curious.

"Hockey shirt. A very big one. Don't worry its mine. My mum bought it for me for one of my birthdays. It was the only one she could get. Its excellent for just throwing something one when you're not going anywhere." Tony pulled on the shirt and climbed into the bed as Alex pulled the thick curtains closed. She climbed into the bed and got comfy. They lay there in silence for a couple of minutes.

"So what's your full name?" Tony asked her, breaking it.

"Alexandra Blaire Larkin. You?"

"Anthony DiNozzo. Any nicknames I can torture you with?"

"Ellie. Its not a very common nickname for someone called either Alexandra or Alexandria. An ex gave it to me."

"Why?" Tony asked her.

"Because he wanted a pet name for me. I actually got used to it. Kinda like it. But most people just call me Alex. Do you have any?"

"Not really. Just Tony I guess but it's not really a nickname. Would you mind if I called you Ellie?"

"No. Good night Tony." Alex's eyelids finally lost the battle and her eyes slid closed. Before she succumbed to sleep she heard Tony whisper,

"Good night Ellie."


	7. Coffee and trouble

The following morning Alex woke up early. Her headache was gone even though she was sure she would have a goose egg on the back of her head when she brushed her hair. She smiled remembering the night she had with Tony. She went to move out of the bed when she realised she couldn't quite move, when she looked down she saw that in the night Tony had put his arm over her, her grin deepened. She liked him a lot more than she should, she had to keep reminding herself that they worked together and that would all it would ever be between them. Still it felt nice having him lying next to her. She felt safe, for once alarm bells weren't ringing in her head telling her not to trust him, in the short time that she had known him, no not just him all of them, she trusted them implicitly. _Maybe I'm losing my touch_ she thought to herself. Being suspicious was what she did it was a defence mechanism. A soft groan beside her told her that Tony was starting to wake up; she quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be sleeping. She would take her cues from him.

Tony opened a bleary eye as he lifted his head and looked around, he was in a room he didn't recognise. Then he remembered that he was at Alex's house. He looked at the sleeping woman that lay beside him and that's when he noticed that his arm was around her. She hadn't moved, _maybe she's still asleep_, he thought to himself. So he put his head back down and left his arm where it was. It felt nice to be sleeping next to woman who didn't have any expectations from him. It had been a long time since he had slept next to a woman. He had his eyes open fully now and he was thinking about last night. They had practically stayed up all night talking, about random things, finding things out about each other. Then she had asked about Kate, _rather Kate than Jeanne I guess_, he could handle the Kate subject. He was over that one and Paula. He dreaded the day she would ask about Jeanne, he was going to use his free pass on that one. _I wonder what she'll use her free pass on_, he had a sneaking suspicion it would be the reason why she hated hospitals. As he lay there he felt something twitch, Alex was twitching, she was awake or at least waking up. He felt her move closer to him and he wrapped his arm around her more. Instinctively. _NO! Must get up before this gets any more weird_ he mentally shook himself and lifted his arm groaning as he did so. Beside him he felt Alex stiffen, _oh yeah she's definitely awake now_.

"Morning Ellie. How's your head?" he asked her, his voice thick with sleep.

"Mornin' yourself. Its fine, although that could be a different story once Gibbs is through smacking it." She laughed lightly. _She has an amazing laugh_ Tony thought to himself and then shook it.

"What do you want for breakfast?" she asked standing up and walking to her bathroom. Tony looked for the chair that had his clothes on it.

"Whatever. Actually I don't think I'm going to be stopping for breakfast, I gotta go get my car, go home and change otherwise Gibbs will pitch a fit. He'll think I've broken rule 12." Alex said something but Tony couldn't hear through the rush of water, Alex was obviously in the shower. He quickly scribbled a note and left it on the dresser, he took a last look around making sure he had everything and then he left.

Alex couldn't hear through sound of the water that was battering her body but she thought she heard Tony say something about the number 12. Not sure she shouted,

"What was that?" she waited for his answer. Since she couldn't hear him, he probably couldn't hear her. She quickly washed her hair and her body, taking more care than normal considering she had been knocked on the head the previous day. Stepping onto the cold tile floor she grabbed the two towels, the first went around her head and the second went around her body. She went into her room to find Tony was gone. As she approached her dresser she looked in the mirror, there was a lovely bluish bruise on her forehead from where she had hit the ground. Looking down she saw that Tony had left her a note,

_Gone to get my car. I'll see you at work. Rain check on breakfast? Tony._ Alex smiled and got dressed when she had an idea, pulling out her cell phone she texted Ziva. _How does everyone take their coffee? Alex_. She was going to get Tony something for last night even if it was just coffee. As she was brushing her hair her phone buzzed,

_Tony has his black with a hint of hazelnut, Gibbs just plain black and strong, McGee has his white with two sugars and I have mine the same as McGee. You on your way over? Ziva._ Alex smiled and texted back, _Yeah. I won't be long. Just going to get the coffee. See you in a few minutes. Alex._ Alex grabbed her keys and went to get the coffee.

**Squad room:**

Tony was sitting at his desk by the time McGee and Ziva came in. They both ignored him. Tony looked up from his computer,

"Morning probie. Morning Ziva. How was your night?" he asked them. They both refused to talk to him. "Ok. What's going on?" he asked them. McGee nodded to Ziva,

"You left us! In the middle of an investigation! We were processing that crime scene all night! Where were you?" Ziva shouted at him. She eyed him carefully and got up from behind her desk and perched herself on the edge of his desk picking up a paperclip as she did so, "Are you undercover again Tony?" she asked him as she fiddled with the paperclip. Tony eyed the paperclip and then looked at Ziva,

"No I am not undercover again. Believe me that won't be happening again. I was at the hospital with Ellie. Didn't Gibbs tell you? He told me to stay with her to make sure she was ok." Ziva continued to look at him and he just stared back, neither moving nor noticing that Alex had appeared next to them.

"Am I missing something?" she asked McGee as she walked away from the staring pair and handing McGee his coffee.

"No. Thanks for the coffee."

"It's a peace offering. I'm sorry I bailed on you guys at the crime scene and for stealing Tony away. Forgiven?" she asked McGee.

"Ha! I told you!" Tony said as Ziva relented that he had been telling the truth. Alex approached them again. She handed Ziva her coffee,

"Toda." Alex smiled, she handed Tony his coffee and mouthed _thank you_. He nodded his head and smiled at her. She walked over to Gibbs' empty desk and placed the coffee next to the keyboard. She went to her desk and waited for the inevitable telling off and headslap. It didn't take long for Gibbs to come downstairs and stalk to her desk.

"How are you?" he asked her. Alex gulped,

"Er…fine boss." Gibbs smiled and tapped her lightly on the top of her head,

"Good." He turned away from her, "McGee what we got?"

"Well boss, Abby matched the blood on the tyre iron to the dead petty officer, and she's running the prints we found on the plastic sheeting. Still no hits on any of his accounts." Gibbs grabbed his coffee from his desk and headed towards the elevator. Alex came around the partition and looked at the rest of the team,

"Did I miss something?" she asked in confusion. Everyone just smiled at her and carried on working.

**Two days later:**

The team still hadn't found out who had killed the petty officer and Gibbs was not in good mood. They had been working for two days solid, only going home to change their clothes. Everyone was tired and irritable, especially Gibbs.

"Anything? Anyone?" he snapped at his team.

"No boss." McGee answered since he was the only brave enough to. "Now what?" he asked. Gibbs sat in his chair and sighed,

"Now it goes in the cold case file. Everyone go home." He ordered them. The team didn't need telling twice and they grabbed their backpacks and left.

Alex had just walked into her house when her phone started to ring,

"Larkin." She answered.

"_What you doin' Ellie?_" Alex smiled,

"I'm about to go into the shower and then sleep Tony. Why?" she could hear him breathing down the phone, clearly attempting to think of something to say or imagining her in the shower, "You're mind needs a cold shower Tony." She said teasingly.

"_Yeah. So you mentioned something about having a shower and then sleeping correct?_" Alex frowned,

"Yes. Why?"

"_Do you want some company? I mean you'll go in the shower and wake up. So why don't I come over and we can watch a movie?_" he asked her. Alex shook her head as she walked up her stairs, slinging her backpack on the bottom of the banister as she did so.

"What movie you got in mind?"

"_Bullitt._"

"Yeah. Go on then. Give me twenty minutes." No sooner had she said this then her doorbell rang. She groaned, "Tony someone's at my door. I'll see you in a few minutes." She hung up the phone and ran down the stairs. She opened her door in a flourish trying to think of the nicest way to get the person to go away.

"Tony what are you doing here?" she asked him as she stepped away from the doorway.

"Well I thought I would save time so I came here instead of going home." He smiled at her. She rolled her eyes at him,

"Have you been sitting outside in your car this whole time?" she asked him. He nodded; she slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Make yourself at home. I won't be long."

"Twenty minutes if I remember correctly. Now go you only have sixteen left before I come in there and get you, regardless if your in the shower or not." Alex gaped at him before narrowing her eyes,

"You wouldn't." Tony leaned towards her,

"You sure about that Ellie? You're wasting time." Alex gulped and ran up her stairs and jumped into the shower. Tony smiled and made himself comfy.

**NCIS squad room:**

Gibbs was about to go home when his computer beeped. He had an email from Abby, she had managed to get a hit on one of the prints from the plastic sheeting, and it had come back on Joey Perry. It was an employment database hit. Benoit Enterprises employed him. His boss was Tony's ex-girlfriend.

"Crap." Gibbs muttered.

**A/N:**

**Please R & R. Thank you very much for sticking with me. There will be Tiva. I have just finished a couple of chapters for later on. Always interested in what people have to say. **


	8. Water fight

Gibbs ran up to the directors office and just walked in. Jenny Shepard looked up,

"Can I help you Jethro?" she asked him.

"I want to know everything about Tony's undercover op from last year." He sat down and waited. Jenny sighed, they had already been over this but clearly something was still bugging him.

"I told you. His mission was to get to close to Jeanne Benoit and help me bring down her father. This worked for all intents and purposes. Except Tony got too involved and it ended badly for the pair of them. A few weeks later Metro PD found her father in the marina. Case closed. Why?" she asked her former partner.

"That dead Petty Officer we've been investigating? Abby matched a print to Joey Perry. He works for Benoit Enterprises. His boss is Jeanne Benoit."

"Coincidence." Gibbs fixed her with a look. Jenny sighed, "I know. Are you going to bring her in?"

"Yes. First thing in the morning. You had better hope that this has nothing to do with Tony." He walked out of the office and headed for him.

**Alex's house:**

Alex came downstairs with her hair pulled into two very sloppy bunches. She looked at her watch,

"Two minutes to spare. That has to be some sort of record." She smiled at Tony. Tony turned to face her and studied her; she had on a pair grey jogging bottoms and a white vest top with thick straps. She had pulled her hair into two bunches and she had on a pair of red-rimmed glasses. He frowned,

"What?" she asked him as she stepped towards the couch and sat down.

"I never knew you wore glasses." He said looking at her face. Alex shrugged her shoulders,

"There are lots of things you don't know about me Tony."

"Yes. So why don't we change that?" he asked her wickedly. Alex groaned,

"This is why you really wanted to come over? Why didn't you just ask Tony? Instead of the elaborate ruse of wanting to watch a film. Same rules as last time?" she asked him. He nodded.

"Me first. How long have you worn glasses?"

"Since I was a teenager. They thought my migraines were because of eyestrain. They help but not as much as you might think. I usually wear them after I haven't slept in a few days or if I'm reading or watching TV. They would also make a good tool for undercover work. You know like Superman uses his." She said laughing at his look.

"No one would ever believe that. Unless they are stupid." He said laughing as well.

"Lois Lane believed it. For years." Tony pointed at her and said,

"That's my point proven right there. Stupid."

"No Tony. She was just a woman in love who didn't want to see what was right in front of her. Are you telling me you've never lied or misled someone you loved?" Tony fell silent. Alex looked at him, his happiness had gone and now his eyes looked sad,

"Pass. I'm using my free pass." He mumbled. "Have you?" he asked her.

"Never been in love. Or at least I hope I wasn't. Not after the way he treated me. So tell me Tony DiNozzo what's your secret hobby?" she asked him trying to lighten the mood.

"Piano. I play the piano. How did you know that I had a secret hobby?" he asked her liking the way this conversation was going now that they had stepped out of the murky waters of relationships. Alex smiled,

"Tony how does a woman know anything? Intuition." She laughed and he tilted his head to the side, "Ok. It was a guess. Everyone has secrets Tony. It's just a case of asking the right questions to get the right answer. So why the piano?"

"My mom liked the piano. When I was a kid my mom got me piano lessons. I actually quite enjoyed it, became very good at it. I stopped after she died. My father hated it, said playing the piano was only for girls." Alex placed a hand on his arm,

"I'm sorry I had no idea." Tony shrugged his shoulders,

"Its ok. I got over it a long time ago. Come to think of it the piano I used to play on should still be at the house in New York. But it might still be in one piece might not as well." Alex just looked at him with sadness in her eyes. She stood up leaving him with his memories and walked into the kitchen. The last time she hadn't had time to wash her dishes after she had eaten. Walking to the sink she turned on the tap and started to fill the sink with soap and water. She was just starting to wash her dishes when she heard movement to her right,

"You ok Tony?" she asked him as she dived her hands into the water.

"Yeah. What are you doing?" he asked her. She turned to look at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I'm washing the dishes Tony. What does it look like?"

"Don't you have a dishwasher?" he asked her.

"No. I do it myself. You know you could help." She nudged him teasingly as she put the dish on the counter to drain. Tony seemed to consider this but instead he dipped his hand into the water and splashed her. "THAT is not what I meant by helping Tony!" she laughed at him and splashed him back. Within minutes they were having a full-blown water fight when Alex filled a cup and threatened to throw it over him. Tony grinned and ran into the living room. Chasing after him she laughed,

"Oh no you don't!" Tony tripped over the corner of her brown rug and fell over onto the floor. Alex lightly kicked him off his front and onto his back and sat on him. Her knees on his arms. She grinned wickedly at him and tilted the cup towards him.

"You wouldn't!" he said laughing. She raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure about that?" she leaned down so that their noses were almost touching. Tony's eyes were flashing with mischief,

"Yes…" he wasn't entirely sure but he wasn't about to admit that. Alex straightened up and grinned, she tipped the cup so that a little bit landed on him. However she wasn't expecting to jump up as much as he did and she lost her grip on the cup and it hit him on the chest, splashing the both of them. Alex couldn't help it she just carried on laughing and soon Tony was also laughing hysterically. As Alex wiped her glasses Tony took advantage and flipped her over so that she was on the floor and he was sitting on top of her and holding her wrists together with one of his hands. She tried to squirm but it was pointless he was much stronger than her. He looked around for something and spying a cushion he grabbed it and started to hit her with it. Alex could move her head so he let go of her wrists as she attempted to shield herself from the battering cushion. He swung the pillow at her head and she stopped moving. He went to hit her again but stopped mid swing when he saw that she wasn't moving. _I didn't hit her that hard did I?_ He thought to himself. He put the pillow down and looked at her, her head was to the side and her eyes were closed and her hands were hanging limply on his thighs. He leaned closer to her,

"Ellie?" he whispered. She didn't move. He moved his ear closer to her mouth to check to see if she was breathing. She wasn't, he moved her face so that she was facing him, "Don't do this to me Ellie." He was about to give her mouth-to-mouth when she opened her eyes and grinned.

"Ok. I won't but I had to try." She tilted her head to the side as she watched the emotions run over his face, from shock, to annoyance and then eventually to something that looked like mischief.

"What would you have done if I had actually started mouth-to-mouth?" he asked her. She shrugged her shoulders,

"I'm not sure. Why?" he smiled at her and leaned down to kiss her.

As Tony leaned down she felt her heart starting to hammer against her chest. She looked into his green eyes and at the glint that was in them. He was studying her face to see her reaction. She organised her face into what she hoped was an expression of curiosity. She knew what he was going to do and she definitely wasn't going to stop him. As their lips touched Alex felt something that she hadn't felt in ages, the kiss was sending her heart into overdrive, she lifted her hands up and put them around his neck pulling him closer to her. She felt him groan against her mouth. She would have smiled if she could have.

Tony knew he shouldn't have done it but he had never seen her unfazed by anything. He had to get her for her prank; he wasn't expecting the reaction that he got from her however. He had studied her face before leaning down towards her again. She had worn a look of confusion however her eyes were what he had actually been looking at. A lot of what she didn't say was spoken in her eyes. She knew what he was going to do and she wasn't going to stop him. When he had started to kiss her he wasn't expecting the reaction that he got from her. She had put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her. It had felt good to be wanted again, here he was kissing a woman he had only known for a couple of weeks but he felt like he had known her for a lot longer than that. The whole team did, she fit in so well with everyone. He kept telling himself that he was just trying to find out about her, justifying why he was around at her house all the time. But if his heart was trying to tell him something when it started to beat faster when she pulled him closer, his mind was choosing to ignore it. He groaned and started to pull away.

Alex blushed as Tony looked down at her,

"Sorry Tony. Got a bit carried away. It's…uh…been a while." She covered her face with her fingers.

"I know how it feels Ellie. Just so that there's no misunderstandings did you feel anything?" he asked her sheepishly. _Lie to him lie to him!_ Her head screamed. _It'll change everything if you don't!_ Alex sighed; she shook her head from behind her fingers.

"I'm sorry Tony. But no. Did you?" Tony's heart was beating erratically inside his chest he knew she was lying. He stood up and held his hand out for her to take. She peeked out from behind her fingers in confusion and took his hand. He pulled her up and she stumbled towards him, her ear landing on his heart.

"No. I didn't. But this is a good thing it means we can be friends and we know that we'll never have any sexual tension between us." He chuckled. Alex nodded listening to his lying words and his truthfully beating heart. She stepped back realising that he was still holding her and she smiled,

"This is true. Now how about that movie?" she asked him. They sat and watched the movie in silence. As soon as the movie was over Tony jumped up and said,

"Thanks Ellie. But it's late and we have been up for the last two days. I'll see you tomorrow?" Alex nodded. She walked him to the door and he said, "Be sure you lock all of those." He said pointing to all of the locks. He stepped out into the cool air and waited for Alex to close the door and locks. Satisfied that she had done this he walked towards his car and headed for home.

Tony's apartment:

Tony entered his apartment and flung his backpack into the corner and started to strip as he walked towards his bathroom. He turned the shower on and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were sunken and he had black bags under his eyes, _if only anyone knew of the baggage that those could figuratively represent_ he thought to himself mockingly. His hair was sticking up in every which direction but the right way, sighing he placed his hand into the shower to test the water temperature. Feeling satisfied he climbed in and turned it up a little more, allowing the steaming hot water to sooth his aching muscles, even if it didn't do anything for his aching heart. After his shower he towelled himself dry and pulling on a clean pair boxers, he clambered into his double bed, eyes heavy with lack of sleep. Within seconds he was asleep and dreaming.

He looked around; he was outside the hospital sitting on the bench with Jeanne. The sun was shining on her brown hair making it glisten. Even though they had been through Hell the night before she still looked radiant. With everything the going on that morning she took his news as well as could be expected.

"_You need to choose Tony." He looked at her; he should have known this was going to happen. Looking into her eyes he knew she meant it. Just then her father came over, _

"_We need to go. Tony I will get my driver to drop you off outside the Navy Yard. Come Jeanne." He said in his thick French accent. They clambered into the limo and they were outside the main gate before Tony could even think. He got out and walked towards the NCIS building. In the next breath he was back in Jeanne's apartment and he had the pink note in his hand again asking him to choose. Ziva had already left and he was just sitting there thinking. His mind flash forwarded two months, Jeanne was at NCIS accusing him of murder, and he had stopped her just outside of the elevator,_

"_Was any of it real Tony?" she asked him. He stepped into the elevator and pushed the down button. He flicked the emergency switch and pulled her close. He started to kiss her and she didn't resist. The kiss changed, from slow and hesitant to passionate and forceful. He pulled back and was surprised to see Ellie._

"_Isn't it time you started to dream about someone else?"_

Tony bolted upright gasping for air, it had felt so real, and of course he knew it wasn't but still…he flopped back down onto his pillows. That was the first time he dreamt of her.


	9. Jeanne

The next morning Tony had a throbbing headache; he had tossed and turned all night, dreaming alternatively from Jeanne to Ellie. He didn't like it he decided to have another shower to wash away his tiredness; he climbed in and washed quickly. He got dressed and headed out of his front door, ready for the day. Little did he know how wrong his day was going to go.

**Squad room:**

Tony had been sitting at his desk for about an hour when he suddenly started to smell lemons. He lifted his nose and started sniffing the air,

"What are you doing Tony?" Ziva asked him. He stood up and continued to sniff upwards.

"Do you smell that?" he asked her. Walking towards her desk sniffing as he did so. As he approached her she glowered at him, he stopped seeing the dangerous look in her eye.

"What is it that you smell Tony?" she asked him as she picked up a paperclip and started to fiddle with it.

"Lemons. Is that you?" he asked her. Ziva crinkled her nose.

"No. I do not like the smell of lemons I prefer strawberries." Tony nodded and walked towards McGee's desk, sniffing. He stopped just in front of him and raised an eyebrow,

"McGoo? Something you want to tell me?" McGee stared at him,

"No! It isn't me. I think it might be Alex. Since she started I've noticed a very lemony smell coming from her desk. It's nice and refreshing. Are you telling me you've only just noticed?" he asked Tony. Tony shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to sniff around the partition and sure enough the smell was definitely stronger around Alex's desk.

"Where is probie number two?" he asked McGee. McGee looked at him in worry,

"She's been here all morning. She just walked past you before, she got called up to see the director and Gibbs." Tony frowned; he hadn't seen her all morning.

"Are you ok Tony?" Ziva asked him wondering over to stand beside McGee. Tony open and closed his mouth looking for a suitable answer, "Has something happened between you and Alex Tony?" Ziva asked him scrutinising his face. He snapped his head towards her,

"No. What makes you think that Zeevah?" he asked her. McGee and Ziva shared a look.

"Well you seem very preoccupied this morning and now all of a sudden you are obsessed with the smell of lemons. A scent that we have all noticed since Alex started here but you have only just discovered it. Straight after she walked past you no less." Tony looked confused,

"Alex smells like lemons?" he asked. They nodded at him. "Since when?" he asked to no one in particular and not actually expecting an answer he went back to his desk.

"Tony do you have a crush on Alex?" Ziva asked him. He had to answer this very carefully or Ziva would be on to him.

"Pssh. No what makes you think that Zeevah?" he asked her as he clicked away on his keyboard.

"You are always around at her house, you playfully hit her all the time, you always have to touch her in someway and now with the lemons. There is also the fact that you keep calling her Ellie. What is going on Tony?" she asked him. She was in foreign ground now; she had to know how he felt about the new girl. "If this was the playground, you would be pushing her over and pulling her hair by now." Tony rolled his eyes at her and said,

"So because I've been around at her house a couple of times and that I have to touch her you two think I have a school yard crush on her?" they nodded. "Well you're so, so very wrong. We're just friends."

**Director's office:**

Alex had walked past Tony's desk without actually looking at him; he had barely spoken all morning. So when she got the phone call to come upstairs she had jumped at the chance, she felt like McGee and Ziva were watching her. She took a breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in." she heard come filtering through the door. Alex pushed open the door with a smile, "Ah." Jenny Shepard said smiling. "Have a seat. We need to talk to you." Alex sat down and looked between the director and Gibbs.

"Something wrong Director?" she asked worriedly.

"No. You have done exceptional work here in a short time. We need to talk to you about Tony and a special undercover assignment."

"Tony?" she asked, "What about him?" Gibbs smiled at her,

"Its nothing really but its more of a precautionary measure. Just in case if you will. How much do you know about Tony?" he asked.

"Not a lot. Just what he tells me. Which isn't a lot. Why?" she dodging the question and Gibbs knew it.

"Has he ever spoken to you about a woman Jeanne?" Jenny asked her. Alex shook her head.

"Last year Tony was undercover and he got to involved. Now the woman that Tony was seeing was the daughter of French arms dealer. It was my op that I was running on a need to know basis. Needless to say it came back to bite me on the ass. Now her name has come up in connection with your recent case. The last time she was here she accused Tony of murder and that didn't go down well with Tony. We have reason to believe that Jeanne asked him to choose between NCIS and her. Now as you can see Tony chose NCIS. Our fear is that if she asks him again he will leave. Your mission would be to bring him home where he belongs. Now we're not saying that he will leave but he might. Would you be willing to go undercover to bring him home?" Jenny asked the young agent. Alex thought this over,

"Why me?" she asked them.

"You're new. We could say that NCIS wasn't working out for you. We would set up a whole new identity, apartment and job for you. You would run off your own timetable. You would have to get close to Jeanne's brother Michael and then after that keep an eye on DiNozzo and get him home." Alex nodded in understanding. She took a deep breath,

"So when is this meant to happen? Am I to remain out of sight while she is here?" she asked them.

"Yes you would. You'll just sit at your desk doing paperwork for the time she is here. Just make sure that she doesn't see you. We're going to go pick her up now. We just needed to know that you would be willing to go get him. So this could start at anytime. When you go home tonight, pack a bag and just be ready to roll when we give the signal." Alex nodded. "Right. Lets go." Gibbs headed towards the door and Alex followed when the Director stopped her,

"You will have my direct line both here and at home. If you feel like your cover has been blown you pull yourself out and call me. I will pass on any pertinent information to Gibbs. Do you have any questions?" she asked her.

"Yes. Do I have to sleep with Michael?"

"Probably. If you want to retain your cover. Do you have a problem with that?" Alex shrugged her shoulders,

"Guess I'll just have to survive. I had better go." Alex left the office, her head swirling with the possible ways of getting out sleeping with someone. Her head was still in the clouds when she walked past Tony's desk. She briefly glanced at him and saw that he looked like he had been punched in the stomach. _So he knows who they're going after_ she thought to herself. She carried on towards her desk and sat down.

"McGee, Ziva you're with me. Alex you have your orders." He placed a stack of papers on her desk and nodded at her. She smiled and started.

"What about me boss?" she heard Tony asking.

"You stay here Tony. We don't want any kind of fuss from any potential lawyers about conflict of interest." She heard Tony sitting back down and the elevator doors closing.

**Twenty minutes later:**

Alex was waiting for Tony to make his move. She knew he couldn't sit still and he would be curious about why she had also been left behind. She was typing away when she saw the flimsy partition shift under his weight,

"What is it Tony?" she asked him. He breathed in heavily and let it out slowly.

"I was just wondering do you swim in lemons?" he asked her. She turned to look at him in astonishment.

"Do I swim in lemons? No. I wash in shower gel that smells like lemons and I have lemon body butter as well as lemon bubble bath. Why?" she asked him.

"Hm. I've just never noticed how strong the smell was before. So why lemons?" he asked her.

"I like the smell. It's refreshing. What's with the twenty questions?" she asked him starting to get annoyed. He raised an eyebrow at her,

"Why are you getting annoyed? You don't normally." Alex fidgeted in her seat, he was right but after last night things had clearly changed, they had both lied to the other about their feelings. Obviously Tony was very adept at it. Now his answers or lack of answers from their previous q and a sessions made sense.

"Who was she?" Alex asked him studying his face,

"Who?" he asked her uncomfortable with where this conversation was going.

"Jeanne. Who was she to you?" Alex asked him. When he didn't answer she decided to push the issue, "Did you love her? Are you still in love with her?" Tony stood up straight and headed towards his desk Alex hot on his heels. "Are you going to answer me?" she asked him.

"No. I'm not. This has nothing to do with you," he muttered. She narrowed her eyes at him but before she could say anything she heard the elevator doors open and she hurried back to her desk.

**An hour later:**

McGee and Ziva were talking as they headed towards the bullpen.

"She had all of the right answers. But she was definitely hiding something." Ziva muttered.

"But we have let her go. There's no physical evidence that connects her to the crime." McGee stated. He was about to say more when Jeanne stopped in front of Tony's desk. He looked up,

"Can I help you?" he asked her coldly. From her seat Alex shivered, she had never heard Tony speak that way to anyone.

"I wish to apologise. I was hurt and angry and I wanted to hurt you the same way you hurt me Tony." Tony didn't say anything. "Will you walk me to my car?" she asked him. Tony stood up and nodded. They walked to the elevator in silence.

**Outside:**

"Tony I want to offer you one more chance. I know I don't deserve but neither do you." Jeanne looked at him as he looked at his feet. "I would of course have conditions." Tony looked up at this,

"Such as?" he asked her. The longer he stayed in her company the more he felt his old feelings rushing back to him. Hitting him like a sledgehammer.

"No movies, no cell phone, no talking to anyone here and no going outside without my say so. Until I can trust you again. You will go to every dinner without complaint. Every black tie event and you will get along with Michael. Would you be able to do that Tony?" Tony looked up at her mortified,

"You're actually going to ban sunshine?" he asked her. Jeanne nodded.

"Yes. I'll call you in a week." She walked away from him with a confidence that he had never seen in her before.

**A/N:**

**Now we're getting to the point lol. Will he go or will he stay at NCIS? Please R & R. It would be much appreciated. **


	10. Confessions

Tony was sitting in house thinking about his day. Alex, Jeanne, her offer, Alex and back to Jeanne. He had definitely been thrown through a loop. Just as he thought he was moving on with his life and possibly feeling feelings for someone again Jeanne comes back into his life and offers him a chance at a life with her. Could he leave NCIS on the off chance that she would forgive him? What about Alex? Could he leave her with McGee and Ziva? Was it really his problem? Yes it was his problem he had literally brought his personal life to work. In fact in this instance his work was his personal life. He should have known not to get involved, he knew that the Director was too attached to this, but he had needed to feel wanted. Needed beyond just being the comic relief in the team. He was never going to get his own team and maybe if the opportunity came up then the maybe the Director would put him on top of the pile if a position came up. This had been his thinking and it had come back to bite him royally. He had been lying to Jeanne, Gibbs, McGee, and Ziva. But most importantly he had been lying to himself.

Alex had seen him leave with Jeanne and come back by himself. He looked confused and deeply unhappy. She knew she shouldn't have bitten his head off. So she had decided to go and see him and apologise. When she had arrived at his apartment building she had to take a few deep breaths before entering. She had absolutely no idea what she was going to find or what she was going to say to him. Deciding to play it by ear she had walked up the stairs and knocked. She waited five minutes and knocked again. When she got no answer she pulled out a brass key Abby had given her. Placing it into the lock she turned it and stepped into the apartment. She was engulfed in darkness, but she knew he was here. His car was parked outside and the bonnet was cold.

"Tony?" she whispered into the darkness. She strained her ears waiting for a movement or a sound. When she got nothing she said, "I just wanted to apologise for snapping at you earlier. I didn't mean it and I didn't mean to pry into your personal business. I'm sorry." She made to leave when a soft voice sounded,

"Its ok. I can understand you wanting to know. She was the most amazing woman I had ever met. She's a doctor. She had no idea who her father was. He had been lying to her, her whole life. She used to tell him everything but he told her nothing. Love makes you do funny things." He chuckled, "Makes you say things. Makes you promise things that you know you can't keep. I should have known it wasn't going to end well, I should have known. Something in my gut was telling to stop before I got sucked in anymore. But I didn't. I liked the way she made me feel. Before her I used to go out on seven dates a week. I was a real player. Why she would even look at me? She would have just been another notch on my bedpost. But I knew I couldn't do that, it would have jeopardised the mission." Tony stopped speaking and Alex waited for him to continue. After a few moments he didn't Alex thought that he had forgotten she was there, she turned back towards the door. "Why don't you come in and sit down?" he said. Alex carefully walked in; she couldn't see two steps in front of her when she said,

"Er Tony? Where are you? I can't see." Tony clicked on a lamp and the room was illuminated brightly. Alex blinked a couple of times and stood waiting for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. When her eyes had finally adjusted she looked around the room. His couch was situated right in front of his big screen TV. On his walls were framed movie posters that he clearly took pride in. She saw him sitting on the edge of the couch just staring. He looked so sad she didn't want to disturb him. He turned his head to look at her,

"Have a seat." The tone of his voice was flat and heavy with emotion. Alex stepped over his backpack that she probably would have tripped over if he hadn't turned on the light. Alex walked over to the couch and sat down. As soon as she was settled he turned the light off again. He sighed.

"You know she was the first woman to ever take an interest in me. For me. Not because of my father or anyone else. Just for me. Anthony DiNozzo Junior. She didn't care about money, even though I'm sure she had a lot of it, she just wanted to help people. I'm surprised she didn't see straight through me. She probably didn't want to, lets face it she had been lied to her whole life why would this be any different? She probably took it as a sign. That all men were like that. Liars. Every time I closed my eyes I would see her face, smiling at me. Then after it all came out all I saw was her crying and asking me why? Why had I lied to her? Why her? Why couldn't it have been someone else? I had no answers for her. She didn't shout, she didn't lash out at me; she just sat there asking why. In some ways that was worse I wish she had lashed out, hit me or punched me. The more I looked at her the more my heart broke into millions of pieces. I had turned this woman's world upside down. I think she had taken all she could handle that day." They lapsed into silence; each thinking about what Tony had shared. After a few moments Alex decided to break the silence,

"So where did you meet?" she asked quietly. Tony smiled into the darkness.

"She was out with some friends at a local bar in Georgetown. The Director had really done her homework, she knew all of her likes and dislikes. Where she liked to eat and drink that sort of thing. So one night I decided to go to the bar and wait to see if she turned up. I went every night for three weeks before she turned up with her friends. I have a piece of advice for you. Don't get involved in the Director's personal missions. It'll end in tears. Anyways she looked stunning when I saw her, she was wearing smart black trousers with a purple top. Nothing too flash, she had flat black shoes on. Clearly she was on a mission of her own to have as much fun as she could. From that you could ascertain that she wanted to do some serious dancing and let her hair down. The bar was actually their last stop before home. She clocked me the second she came in. She was much prettier in the flesh than she was in her photos. They really didn't do her justice. She was ordering drinks where I was sitting and she looked at me and smiled. The rest was, as they say, is history." Tony sighed heavily again. Alex sat there in the silence; just thinking about what Tony had said when she felt him move. Turning her head in his general direction,

"Tony? You ok?" she asked him. She felt him shuffle closer to her; she stiffened as she felt a cushion on the tops of her legs. Then his head was on her lap.

"Since your playing shrink I may as well lie down and get it over with right?" he asked her. She could hear the smile in his voice,

"Hm let me think. So what happened outside today?" she asked him. She waited as he got more comfortable, she could feel his wide shoulders pressed against her side, he battered the cushion with his head and placed one of his hands underneath it to support it.

"She asked me to choose again. She has a few rules though. No movies, no cell phone, no NCIS, no talking to anyone from NCIS and no sun. I love all of those things and I couldn't imagine not talking to you guys but I'm not sure. I mean I wouldn't miss the head slaps or the glares but I would miss the bullets flying past my head, the danger." He paused, "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"I'm sorry what?" she asked him confused. "I'm not doing anything. I'm listening to you." she could feel Tony move his head to look at her.

"You're playing with my hair."

"Oh sorry. I didn't even realise I was doing it. Sorry. Carry on." She placed her placed one of her hands on his shoulder and the other she let dangle off the side of the couch. Tony moved his head again,

"Its ok. I quite like it." No sooner had he said this then her fingers were playing with his hair again, he smiled, "Anyways. I'm slightly undecided. What would you do?" he asked her. Alex took a breath,

"I don't know. I've never been in that situation. How long have you been at NCIS?"

"Almost ten years. Longest relationship I've ever had." He joked. He felt Alex shift uncomfortably.

"Do you think you could live like that Tony? No movies, no cell phone, no friends and no NCIS?"

"You're forgetting the sun. Never forget about the sun," he said laughing then sighed, "I don't know. I mean I would be giving all of this up on the off chance that she might forgive me and trust me again. Isn't it worth the risk?"

"I don't know Tony. Do you think it's worth the risk? I mean lets think of it this way. You go with Jeanne. A year or two down the line and you realise you've made a huge mistake, I mean she still doesn't trust you and you're not even sure if you ever loved her, what would you do? You would have no job, no friends but of course you would have the sun. This is of course worst-case scenario. What would you do?"

"I wouldn't have a job?"

"No. I doubt NCIS would wait around for you to realise that you had made a mistake." Tony shifted again and she waited.

"I'd go begging to the director on my hands and knees for my job back. Look can we change the subject?"

"Yeah. But answer me one question do you feel better now that you've talked about it?" she felt Tony shrug.

"I guess. You ever been in love?" he asked. Clearly they were now back playing their game.

"I think so. I'm not really sure. My ex was the kind of guy that McGee would be best friends with, total computer geek, always playing games on his stupid computer. You know that sort of thing. Anyways when we first got together he was the kindest guy, patient, always complementing me and he always went out of his way to do something for me. I should have known then I guess but I didn't. About six months into our relationship, he changed; he always wanted sex, he would grab my tummy and make whale noises and then of course he started to call me fat. Every day for three years." Tony clenched his fists as he listened, "So of course the more he called me fat the less I wanted to sleep with him. That should have been my first clue. Then one day we were arguing and he said that I was too fat for him. I kept asking him why he was calling me that and he said that it was true and that he did it because he was shallow. By this point I had tears streaming down my face and I was asking him if he was doing it because he loved me. He just laughed in my face. I left his apartment and went home. How could I have been so stupid? I thought he was calling me fat because he loved me, how wrong was I? I didn't hear from him for a week, there was no chance in Hell I was gonna call him, so this one day I'm tidying up and my phone goes. Its him…telling me that we were done because I was fat and because I wouldn't sleep with him. The stupid idiot never put the two together." Alex stopped and thought about this, "I really hope not."

"Was this the same guy that called you Ellie?" Tony asked unable to keep the anger out of his voice.

"No. My high school sweetheart used to call me that. Him I liked but I wouldn't have said that I loved him." They sat in silence, each thinking of the others relationship issues, when Alex said, "We make a right pair don't we? Me with chronic bad taste and you with the ever looming question of do I take the risk?" she asked chuckling. As she said this she thought about what Tony had gone through and said, "Do you want my advice?" Tony nodded,

"If it was me. I'd take the risk. I'd have to know, regardless of the consequences. You gotta believe in love right?"

"You would give up everything? Everything that you had worked hard for and everyone that mattered to you?" he asked her.

"Yeah. I'd probably die for it. If I felt that it was worth it. Is she worth it Tony?" Tony didn't answer; he was busy concentrating on the feel of her fingers in his hair. Jeanne had never done anything like that. But Alex was so different from Jeanne he couldn't really compare the two. But here he was trying to.

"So tell me something. What kind of books do you like to read?" he asked her. Desperately wanting to change the subject. Alex smiled,

"Crime mostly. I like reading both fiction and true crime. I also read a lot of fantasy and biographies. Sad really. Although one of my favourite books that I've read recently was called _Deep Six_. It was brilliant. Loved Special Agent Tommy. He was so funny with that bad boy side to him. I do like me some bad boys." She laughed. Tony groaned and Alex frowned into the darkness, "What?" she asked him feeling like she was missing something.

"I'm going to kill McGee. I'm gonna _Deep Six_ him into the Potomac." Tony ground out through his teeth.

"I still don't understand. What has _Deep Six_ got to do with McGee?"

"That book is based on us. Me, Ziva, Gibbs, Abby, Jimmy, Ducky and of course McGee. McGee wrote it. Take three guesses who Special Agent Tommy is based on." Alex stopped fiddling with his hair,

"Oh my God! How could I not have seen it? No wonder I felt like I knew all of you! I am so embarrassed." She lifted her hands to her face to hide it.

"Hey I didn't give you permission to stop fiddling with my hair. Why are you hiding your face when I can't see in the dark?" Alex dropped her hands from her face but didn't start to fiddle with his hair again. Tony cleared his throat, waiting for her to continue fiddling.

"Sorry Tony but I have to go." She waited for him to lift his head so that she could leave but when he didn't she said, "Come on Tony. Get up."

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" he asked her without moving.

"Because I need some space. So can I please go?" she asked him almost pleading with him for him to get up.

"So you're not leaving because you're embarrassed?" he asked her.

"I'm sure I'm not leaving because I'm practically dying of embarrassment. I just need some space to clear my head." Tony slowly sat up and Alex was out of the chair in record time. "Light?" she asked him. He turned on the light, she had her back to him but he could still see the red colour slowly leaving her neck. He smiled. Once her eyes had adjusted she walked towards his front door. She was almost there when she said,

"Tony? Sleep on it. Don't make any rash decisions. Weigh up the pros and cons. I'll see you tomorrow." She was gone before he could reply.


	11. Suspension

Alex hurried home when she left Tony's. She went to her bookshelf and quickly scanned the titles and found what she was looking for. Reading the back she smiled, how could she not have seen it? She hadn't been working at NCIS that long and yet she had known about Gibbs's thing for head slapping people. How he liked to have answers quickly, how Abby liked to have fun, how lethal Ziva could be and how Tony was. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before. She put the book on her kitchen table and went upstairs to pack. When they had been talking Alex knew that Tony was going to choose Jeanne this time. She could tell from the sound of his voice. Alex started to sing to herself as she started to pack up a few of her belongings. She would just buy new stuff if she needed to.

**The next morning in the Squad room:**

Tony walked into the squad room and smiled. Alex was bouncing on the balls of her feet in front of McGee's desk.

"Please McGee! Please! Don't make me beg because I am not above begging. Please!" she was clearly excited about something.

"No." Tony stood next to her watching her pout.

"What are you trying to get him to do?" he asked her. She turned to face him and showed him her book. Grinning she said,

"I want him to sign my book. But he won't he's being a total kill joy." Tony rolled his eyes. Then she had an idea,

"Tony sign my book." She handed it to him. He stepped away from it like it was a grenade. "Please?" she added pouting again.

"Why do you want me to sign it for?"

"Because you are my favourite character and I need it to be a constant reminder of stupid I am. Please?"

"No." he walked away from her. Spotting Ziva she said,

"Ziva will you sign my book?" she asked the Mossad officer. Ziva looked at her like she was mad.

"Will you stop bouncing up and down if I do this?" she asked the younger woman. Alex nodded. She walked towards Ziva's desk and handed her the book. She opened the front page and smiled, "I see Abby, Ducky and Jimmy have already signed your book."

"Yeah. I got them this morning." She turned and pointed to Tony and McGee saying, "And I will get the rest of you. Even if it is the last thing I do." Tony had a sudden thought,

"Are you going to ask Gibbs?" Alex nodded. "Good luck with that. He won't sign it either."

"I won't sign what DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked walking into the bullpen.

"You won't sign Alex's book boss." Gibbs stood next to the still bouncing Alex.

"Why are you getting us to sign this for?"

"It's a birthday present for my niece. She's a big fan of the book and I've been trying to get these killjoys to sign it for the last half an hour." Alex lied quickly. Ziva had just finished signing the book and was holding it out for Alex to take when Gibbs grabbed it, flipped it open and scribbled his signature. He handed it back to Alex and sat down at his desk. Alex beamed at him and then proceeded to walk to Tony's desk.

"Well?" she asked him.

"Still no." he replied. He turned his computer on and proceeded to ignore her glaring at him.

"Fine." She huffed and walked back towards her desk, "I suppose you still won't either?" she asked McGee and he shook his head. She sat down at her desk and went about doing her paperwork.

Throughout the day Tony kept looking at his watch, he had made up his mind last night and he decided that he would wait until everyone had gone home before he went to talk to the director. He was finding it increasingly difficult to stick to his decision as every now and then Alex would walk up to his desk and ask him to sign random bits of her paperwork. After the third attempt he said,

"Why do I have to keep signing these?" he asked her.

"Because you are the senior field agent right? You have to sign off on all of our paperwork before Gibbs does." She smiled at him. Tony eyed her critically.

"You haven't been here long enough to have this much paperwork." He looked down at what he was meant to be signing this wasn't her paperwork.

"This isn't yours." He said and handed it back to her. "Ten out of ten for trying though." She scowled at him,

"Thanks…Tommy." She muttered as she went back to her desk. Tony scrunched up a ball of paper and launched it over McGee's head and it hit her on the head,

"You missed." She called from behind her partition. Tony grinned he had hit his target and started to laugh. Even Gibbs joined in.

**Later that day: **

Everyone was packing up to go home. Tony was dawdling and Alex was pestering McGee again.

"Come on Mr Gemcity! I could keep this up for days! Do you really want me to keep going? Just sign it please." McGee looked at her.

"Fine. Hand it over." She pulled her book out of her bag and handed it to him grinning. He flipped it over to the inside cover,

"No. I want you sign the front." She closed the book and he grabbed a pen. Quickly scrawling his name he handed it back to her. "Thank you McGee." She leaned towards him and kissed him on the cheek making him blush. As she walked past Tony's desk she said, "I will get you, you know." She placed the book in front of him and grinned devilishly at him and headed towards the elevator. Tony shook his head as he watched her go.

"You coming Tony?" McGee asked him as he went past.

"No. I'm just gonna finish up here and then I'm gonna go home." He smiled at his friend; thinking about how much McGee had changed since he had joined. He felt he could leave now McGee didn't need him. McGee smiled back,

"See you tomorrow Tony." McGee headed for the elevator. Story ideas already churning in his head. Ziva and Gibbs had already left so Tony slowly turned off his computer and pulled the brown box out from under his desk and started to pack up his belongings. After an hour he was ready. He put the box on his desk and headed for the directors office. He knocked on the door.

"Tony. Come in," she said. Tony took a deep breath and went in. "How can I help you?" she asked him.

"I'm leaving." He said. She looked up at him startled.

"You're leaving? Why?" although she already knew the answer.

"I've been given another chance. I need to know. So I'm going to see if Jeanne can forgive me."

"Is she worth it?" she asked him. Tony grinned at how cheesy he was about to sound.

"Worth dying for." The director nodded.

"Ok. Gun and badge?" she asked him. Holding out her hand. He went to give her them but found he couldn't. Seeing him hesitate she said, "Just put them in your desk. I'll get them in the morning." Tony nodded and left the office. Walking down the stairs his legs felt like lead. He placed his gun and badge on top of his desk and looked at Alex's book. He smiled,

"You were right Ellie. You got me." He opened the book to the first blank page and scribbled a little note in the front and signed it. He left the book next to his gun and badge and he grabbed his box and left before he could talk himself out of it. From upstairs balcony Director Jenny Shepard watched him leave. Sighing she pulled out her cell phone.

"You're mission is a go. We'll give it a week or two before you leave." She shut the phone and sighed.

**The following day:**

Alex walked into NCIS with a heavy heart. She already knew that Tony had gone but it didn't make it any less hard. Looking at the elevator doors she decided to take the stairs. When she finally got to the top she saw that she was the first one in. _That's strange_ she thought to herself. She approached the bullpen with apprehension. She stopped in front of Tony's desk and sighed. On his desk were her book and his gun and badge. She put her backpack down and just stood staring at his desk trying to imagine him sitting behind it. McGee came in next,

"What are you doing probie?" he asked her as he approached her. She turned to face him, "Are you ok?" he asked her. Alex wiped her eyes, she hadn't even realised she had been crying. McGee looked around her, "Where's Tony?"

"He's not here. He's left McGee." She turned back to Tony's desk and just carried on staring not really listening to McGee ask her a million questions. Gibbs and Ziva arrived next. Gibbs gave her a knowing look and Alex nodded. She had to start thinking about her mission now. She grabbed Tony's gun and badge and put them in her bottom drawer of her desk. Picking up her book she put it in her bag too scared to look to see if he signed it. A few hours later Alex had gone out for the lunch run. She hadn't spoken all morning and they had sent her out for some fresh air. When she came back a stranger was sitting at Tony's desk and none of the other members of team Gibbs were around. She narrowed her eyes at the stranger.

"Who the Hell are you?" she demanded. The person stood up,

"Hi. I'm Nathan." He said holding out his hand. Alex looked at him and scowled,

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to be part of your team." He lowered his hand and continued to look at her. Alex took a deep breath trying to keep her cool. She squared her shoulders,

"That desk is taken." Nathan looked at her in confusion,

"No it isn't. There's nowhere else for me to sit."

"I don't care. That desk is taken. Now get the Hell away from it." She ground out through her teeth. When he didn't move Alex tried again, "How about I put it into terms you can understand? That is Tony's desk. He will want it back, but until he wants it back no one and I mean NO ONE is allowed to sit at this desk. I don't care if you have to sit on the floor you will not be sitting at his desk. Now move away before I make you." she fixed him with a glare. Nathan folded his arms,

"No. I don't care who this Tony person is. This is now my desk. So take your best shot to try and move me." Alex looked at the floor and sighed,

"You asked for it." She walked around to face him and proceeded to throw him over her shoulder. He landed with a bang on his back; she placed her foot over his throat,

"You try that again. I dare you." she scowled at him.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Gibbs demanded, Alex hadn't even noticed the rest of the team had come back.

"He was sitting at Tony's desk. I asked him politely to move, when he didn't I moved him." She pushed her foot down onto his throat causing him to choke. "You won't be doing that again will you?" Nathan shook his head. Alex lifted her foot and Nathan scrambled to his feet.

"You crazy bitch." He muttered at Alex. She raised her eyebrow and punched him in the face. Gibbs sighed,

"Alex go and see the director and explain why I've sent you up."

"You're sending me to the principles office? What's the matter Gibbs? Can't handle me by yourself?" she asked him sarcastically as she walked towards the stairs leading to the director's office. Gibbs shook his head as he watched her walk up the stairs.

"What was all that about?" Ziva asked Gibbs.

"She's upset about Tony. But that's no excuse to beat up another agent." He muttered as he sat down behind his own desk. He watched Nathan go to sit behind Tony's desk, "That doesn't mean that she wasn't right. That's Tony's desk. You can have the one on the other side of this partition." He stood up and pointed to the desk next to his. Nathan nodded and picked up his belongings and proceeded to put his stuff where Gibbs had told him.

**Director's office:**

"Why are you up here?"

"Gibbs sent me for beating up the new guy." Alex replied.

"You beat up a fellow agent?" she asked in astonishment. Alex nodded.

"Look. You've got an excuse to get me out of here. I suggest you take it Director." Alex said. The director sighed,

"I suppose now is as good a time as any. I'm hereby suspending you until further notice. I want a written statement of what went on downstairs."

"I'll email it to you." Alex replied sarcastically as she left the office with a grin on her face. As she headed back down the stairs she rearranged her face into a mask of calm. As she passed Tony's desk she stooped down and picked up her backpack and walked to her desk. She opened her bottom drawer and put both her and Tony's guns and badges into her bag. Then she looked in the other drawers and deciding she didn't want anything else she slammed them shut. She walked to Gibbs's desk and stopped,

"I've been suspended until further notice. Good luck the Newbie." She went to the elevator and waited for it to arrive. She had just stepped in when Gibbs followed her in and flipped the emergency switch,

"What are you playing at?" he asked her.

"The quicker I get out of here, the quicker I get him home. Where he belongs." She muttered.

"Why his gun and badge?"

"Just in case. Look I'm sorry Gibbs. But it had to be done. I'll call you with an update as soon as I have one." She smiled at him and he smacked her on the back of the head. "What was that for?"

"Just a reminder." Alex nodded and he flicked the emergency switch again. Alex stepped out into the sunshine and took a couple of deep breaths. _This is it. Now the hard part starts_ she thought to herself.

**A/N:**

**I am very sorry for the patchiness of this chapter. But I had to get both Tony and Alex out of NCIS. Please R & R. **


	12. Michael

Alex was standing inside her new apartment looking at her handy work and she seemed very happy with herself. She had done what she could with her limited funding. There was no paint on the walls but at least it had a TV and a DVD player, which was all she really needed. Sitting down onto her couch she pulled her book out of her bag and flicked through the messages that the team had written on the inside. She smiled at what they had all said but her face fell, Tony hadn't signed her book before he had left. Putting the book onto the little table she stood up and went to bed.

**Jeanne's apartment:**

Tony took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He waited for a few moments before knocking again. He was about to leave when Jeanne opened the door.

"Tony! I wasn't expecting you so soon. Come in." she said stepping away from the door. Tony entered and felt very uncomfortable and stepped over the threshold. "So I take it you agree to the terms?" Tony nodded. Jeanne stood in front of him and held out her hand.

"What?" Tony asked her. Jeanne rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Cell phone." Tony felt into his pockets and pulled out his phone and passed it to her. She flicked it open and turned it off. Walking into the kitchen she placed it into one of the drawers and smiled,

"There. That's better. Now you are going to sleep in the spare room for now." She looked at him, "Where's your stuff?" she asked him.

"Its at my apartment. I thought we were taking it slow?" he asked her in confusion.

"I see. Maybe I wasn't clear. You're going to move in with me so that I can keep an eye on you Tony. Now go back to your apartment and pack up your stuff. Then come straight back here." she put her hands on her hips expecting him to say something. Instead he looked heavenwards and left the apartment.

**Tony's apartment:**

As he entered he was seriously starting to question his decision to go back to Jeanne. He hated it already. He was going to lose all of his independence and he wasn't even allowed to talk to anyone. _It'll be worth it. It has to be._ He thought bitterly to himself. He packed up his clothes and left everything else, as he passed his couch, he smiled remembering his last night in his apartment. Alex stroking his hair and questioning him. He smiled at the memory of her embarrassment when she had learned about _Deep Six_ and his part in the book. "I do like me some bad boys." Her voice echoed in his head and he shook it trying to clear it. He tried to imagine himself being a bad boy, he knew he was rebellious but he wouldn't say he was a bad boy. He smiled maybe she really did just like him. The night previous he had dreamed about her again. He could have sworn he had smelled lemons when he had woke up that morning. _It's probably a good thing that we're sleeping in separate rooms. God only knows what I could say._ He flicked the lights off and headed back towards Jeanne's apartment.

**Georgetown coffee shop:**

Alex took a deep breath and walked in. It was a little coffee shop where she would be starting her new job. It had four booths running along one wall, a couple of tables near the back but the it was mainly taken up by a red counter that ran from one of the shop to the other. She spotted a young woman cleaning the counter,

"Excuse me? I'm Alex. Is the manager around?" she asked her.

"He's in the back. Just go on through the kitchen, there's a wooden door with manager written on it. That's where you'll find him." Alex scowled at her; she hated sarcasm first thing in the morning. She followed the directions and she knocked on the wooden door.

"Enter." A gravely voice sounded through the door. Alex pushed open the door,

"Hi. I'm Alex. You're expecting me?" she said. The man looked up and smiled at her,

"Yes. You'll be on the dayshift until you find your man, then we'll switch you to the nightshift. After that its up to you." Alex nodded. He stood up and he said, "Well lets get you started, the sooner you start the sooner I can get rid of you." Alex followed him out. _I hate this already._ He showed her where the break room was and then he handed her an apron and told her to go out and start. She was about to ask a question but he was already walking back towards his office. _Do not shoot him_ she thought miserably to herself.

Michael looked around the little coffee shop. It was quaint even if it was a little bit tacky for his tastes. A woman hurried past him, she was wearing blue jeans, trainers and a fitted sports top. She was carrying a tray full of cups of coffee, she stopped at the booth two down from his and as she was handing out the coffee she was laughing. He hadn't seen her before. As she came past her stopped her,

"Excuse me. Can I order some coffee?" he asked her and flashing her a smile.

"Yeah sure. What'll it be?" she asked him.

"Black with three sugars. What are your specials today?" he asked her.

"Pecan pie, strawberry pie, apple pie and cherry pie." She said starting to fidget.

"That's a lot of pie. What's your name? I haven't seen you in here before." He asked her.

"Alex. That is a lot of pie. I've been here a couple of weeks. What's your name?" she asked him more out of politeness than anything else. She had a lot of customers and this one was taking up her precious time.

"Michael. I can see your busy why don't I come back later and we can talk?" he asked her.

"Yeah. I get off in two hours and twenty minutes." She replied hurrying away before he could ask her something else. Michael stood up and left the little shop. He walked into the dusk light and decided he would go and see his sister. He didn't have far to go and as he climbed the stairs he couldn't help but smile. He knocked on the door and his smile slid from his face when he saw who answered the door.

**Jeanne's apartment:**

"Tony. What are you doing here?" he demanded as he pushed past Tony into the apartment. Tony slammed the door shut,

"Come in Michael. Make yourself at home. Jeanne's just gone to the supermarket. She'll be back soon." Tony stood in the kitchen; he hated being in the same room as Michael.

"I see she has you domesticated. You hurt my sister again and you'll have me to answer to. Do you get that?" Michael had come into the kitchen and he had gotten right into Tony's face. Tony pushed him backwards,

"I got it." Before Michael could say anything else the door opened and Tony hurried to help her with the shopping.

"Your brother is here." he muttered as he picked up the bags and carried them through into the kitchen. Michael appeared and the brother and sister hugged.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked her brother.

"I was in the neighbourhood getting coffee. I met this cute little waitress, she'll be mine by the end of the month." Jeanne gave him a look,

"A waitress? You can do so much better Michael." He shrugged his shoulders,

"So can you. Why are you with him? You are aware that because of him Papa is dead." He asked her. Looking deep into her eyes to see if he could see the real reason behind her reasons for taking Tony back. Jeanne rolled her eyes at him,

"I told you I have my reasons. So when are you going to introduce me to your little waitress?" she asked. Pulling her face on the last word if it was something to be ashamed of. Tony just shook his head from the kitchen. He had learned not to interrupt when Michael was there. Jeanne was not the same woman she was when they had first met. _Probably my fault_ he thought to himself. He carried on unpacking the shopping. When he was done he put the bags in the trash and went into his room. He was lying on his bed thinking. Ever since he had come back to Jeanne he had been regretting his decision. Every night when he closed his eyes he would dream about Alex. He even imagined having conversations with her he closed his eyes,

"_So was it worth it?" _

"_No. I made a huge mistake Ellie. How am I going to get out of it?"_

"_You know you'll find a way. I told you not to do anything rash Tony. So how big a mistake have you made?"_

"_The biggest one I've made in a long time. I feel like I'm in a waking nightmare."_

"_Well maybe you just need a little light to guide you through it." She smiled at him and leaned in closer. She was so close he could smell the lemon scent of her skin. She was fiddling with his hair and staring deeply into his eyes, her brown ones looking for something. She smiled again and gently kissed him on the lips…_

"Tony! Wake up!" Jeanne said shaking him. Tony sat up gasping for air, he hadn't even realised that he had fallen asleep.

"What?" he asked trying to slow down his racing heartbeat. "What time is it?" he asked her.

"Its seven thirty. Michael just left, what were you dreaming about?" she asked him suspiciously.

"I can't remember. So how is brother dearest?" he asked her sarcastically. Jeanne frowned at him.

"He's met a waitress. Apparently she'll be his by the end of the month. Just in time for the cocktail party on daddy's boat. Then we'll be cruising around the Med in total isolation." Tony pulled a face, he hated having to wine and dine with Jeanne and Michael's 'contacts' that they knew through their father.

"I told you this was a necessary part of our agreement. They have to believe that daddy is still alive and just hiding somewhere in Mexico." She rolled her eyes. She tilted her head to the side and looked at Tony. He still had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen but they had seemed to have lost that mischievous sparkle in the few weeks that he had been back with her. They seemed to be losing their brightness. "Are you ill Tony?" she asked him.

"No. Why?"

"Well your eyes seem to be dulling for the lack of a better term. Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yes. It's just I'm not used to being cooped up inside Jeanne." He said smiling at her.

"We've been through this Tony." She said standing up and walking to the door. "Try and get some more sleep. I think you're coming down with a cold." She snapped the door shut behind her. He groaned,

"I'd rather be asleep than here any day." He muttered into the darkness.

**Coffee shop:**

Alex had just finished her shift when Michael came back in; she groaned she didn't actually think he would come back. She put a smile on her face but stayed behind the counter, she didn't like being that close to him.

"Are you done for the day?" he asked her. She nodded, "How about I take you out for dinner?"

"I've just finished my shift. I need to go home and change first." She replied.

"I can wait." Alex smiled and walked around the counter.

"I won't be long." She hurried out the door and headed for her apartment. She pulled out her cell phone and called NCIS.

"_Shepard_."

"Its me. I've got a date with Michael. Tonight."

"_That was quick_."

"Yeah well he moves quicker than an Olympic runner on speed." She muttered into the phone.

"_This could be a good thing. Have you seen Tony at all?_"

"No. He's not allowed outside. One of her conditions. I'll let you know as soon as I have something." Alex hung up the phone and opened her front door. She quickly had a shower and changed into something semi-casual. She was back at the coffee shop within half an hour. She hurried in a bit breathless,

"Hi." She said blushing. He liked the colour on her.

"Hi. Shall we start again?" he asked her cheekily. She raised an eyebrow at him and he continued, "My name is Michael Benoit. What's your name?"

"Alex Larkin."

"I have one sister called Jeanne. Do you have any siblings?" he asked her his French accent coming out a little more.

"No." she kept her answers simple. He frowned,

"You don't trust strangers do you?" Alex shook her head. "Hm. Then I guess we'll just have to get to know one another better." He was about to continue when his phone ringing interrupted him. He looked down at it and said, "Excuse me." He stood up and walked away from the table. A couple of minutes later he was back, "Very sorry but I have to leave. Would you be up for a double date on Friday?"

"Who with?" she asked nervously fiddling with a piece of her hair.

"Myself, my sister and her no good boyfriend?" he pulled a face. Alex pretended to think about this for a second.

"Erm…sure. What time and where?" she asked him.

"How about I pick you up here at around seven thirty and we can go from here?" he asked her sensing her discomfort.

"Yeah. Ok. See you on Friday." Michael smiled and left her alone. Outside he phoned Jeanne.

"We have a double date on Friday night at seven thirty." He snapped the phone shut smiling as he did so.


	13. Double Date

**Friday night:**

Alex was walking around her apartment, stalking would probably be a better word for it. She was muttering to herself,

"What the Hell am I going to wear?" she opened her wardrobe and peered into its depths. "There is _nothing_ in here!" she screeched to the empty apartment. Anyone listening or looking at her would just put her discomfort down to nervousness about a date. Anyone who knew her would know that this whole mission depended on Tony not saying anything and playing along. She looked at her watch,

"Crap. I'm late." She reached a hand into the wardrobe and pulled something out.

**Jeanne's apartment:**

"Now Tony I want you to behave tonight. Think of this as a test if you want. We're meeting Michael's girlfriend. You will only speak when spoken to and you don't offer up any information. Now are you ready?" she asked him condescendingly. Tony rolled his eyes; he hated being talked to like he was five. _Just put up with it. At least you're going out don't kick a gift horse in the mouth_ he thought to himself. He smiled and nodded,

"Yes Jeanne. So what do we know about this young lady?" he enquired. Jeanne glared at him,

"What makes you think she's young?" she snapped at him.

"Well…this is your brother we're talking about here. He only goes out with young girls he can corrupt." Jeanne thought about this for a second,

"He didn't say. Now come on. We're going to be late." Tony groaned and followed her out of the apartment.

**Outside the coffee shop:**

Alex paced outside the coffee shop, she looked at her watch again, and she had just made it. _Thank God I can get ready in five minutes and look vaguely presentable_ she thought to herself. Michael was late and she didn't like to be kept waiting.

"Alex!" a voice called from behind her. She turned around smiling,

"Hey Michael. I thought I had missed you. I was running a little late." She added blushing. He walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek.

"We would wait for you," he said softly into her ear. He looked at his own watch, "They are late." He sighed as if this was a regular occurrence. Alex looked at him in curiosity, _how could this man be the son of an arms dealer?_ She thought to herself. _He doesn't fit any kind of profile but someone has to be running the business_. "Ah. Here they are." Michael said snapping her out of her musings. Michael had left her side and Alex gasped. Tony was walking towards her; he was wearing black jeans and a casual shirt. Her heart stepped up a gear. Michael hugged his sister and glowered at Tony, already she hated Jeanne. Michael led them towards her and Alex shuffled on her feet with her head down.

"Alex!" Michael called to her, she lifted her head smiling, "This is my sister Jeanne." He paused, "And this is Tony." He added as if Tony was an after thought. Her blood boiled. Jeanne smiled at her and held out her hand Alex took it and smiled,

"Hi."

"Hi. I'm Jeanne. I'd like to say I've heard all about you but that would be a lie." Jeanne carried on smiling but Alex's back was already up and her bullshit detector was in overdrive. Jeanne dropped Alex's hand and turned to Tony, "Tony. Say hello she doesn't bite." Alex held out her hand,

"Hi. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you." she looked at Tony giving him a look that clearly said _go with it_. Tony shook her hand,

"Hi. I'm Tony. Nice to meet you." Alex could feel the electricity between then and Jeanne cleared her throat and Tony dropped her hand as if it was a grenade. Alex raised an eyebrow but turned to Michael.

"So where we goin?" she asked him.

"Ah. There is a lovely little Indian restaurant. Nice and quiet and we can get to know each other." He smiled and grabbed her hand. Tony saw her shoulders tense a sure sign that Alex didn't appreciate the gesture. As they walked down the street Tony was very quiet and Michael seemed determined to leave him out of the conversation. Alex frowned mentally _I'm gonna have to change that_.

**Indian restaurant:**

When they were seated Michael pulled out her chair and Alex smiled at him and sitting down. When she looked Jeanne was already sitting down opposite where her brother would be sitting that meant she was opposite Tony. The waited came over and Michael ordered their drinks and then passed Alex her menu. After a few moments of silence Jeanne put down her menu and looked at Alex,

"So tell me Alex how do you like being a waitress?" she asked. Alex raised an eyebrow,

"I like it. You meet different people everyday. You get to know their habits. So what do you do?"

"I'm a doctor." She smiled proudly and Alex felt sick. She turned to Tony,

"What do you do Tony?" Tony nearly jumped a mile,

"I used to be a federal agent." He said sighing as he did so.

"Oh? What kind of federal agent?" Tony looked at her puzzled, "You know. Were you FBI, CIA, NSA? Am I even close?" she asked him. Tony smiled,

"I actually worked for NCIS. It stands for…"

"Naval Criminal Investigative Service. We get a few marines in at the coffee shop. They hate you guys. So why did you leave?" she was determined to make him talk more.

"Actually Tony doesn't work there anymore. He just lazes around the apartment. Don't you Tony?" Michael said nastily. Tony opened his mouth to reply but stopped.

"Yes Michael that's all I do." Alex turned back to Tony,

"Do you miss it?" she asked him. Tony just glared at her.

"No. Thank god." He looked at the waiter that had just appeared at their table,

"Are you ready to order?" he asked them. Michael ordered for everyone. Alex glared at him,

"Please don't do that." She said. Michael turned to face her,

"I know what's good here." he giving her what she assumed would be a smile that would have any woman in his lap in a second. She rolled her eyes at him,

"Well I might have allergies. Did you think of that?" she asked him.

"I know you don't have allergies." He said proudly. "But you do get migraines."

"How do you know this? I don't remember telling you any of this."

"I know lots of things about you." he smiled at her again and Alex frowned,

"You ran a background check on me?"

"Interesting phrase. I wouldn't have thought a waitress would know what one of those was." Jeanne said nastily. Alex turned her glare to Jeanne.

"I watch a lot of TV. And I don't like the assumption that you think you're better than me. Just because you're a…nurse was it?"

"Doctor."

"I really don't care." Alex said and she meant it. Sensing trouble Michael said,

"Jeanne. Why don't we go and get some more drinks?" he stood up and waited for Jeanne to do the same. He cleared his throat. Jeanne broke eye contact. She stood up and followed Michael towards the bar. Alex finally looked at Tony, his eyes had lost some of their sparkle and his face was withdrawn.

"You ok?" she asked him.

"No. What the Hell are you doing here? And why are you baiting Jeanne?" he leaned forward so that no one could hear him. Alex leaned forward,

"What do you think I'm doing here? Why are you letting her treat you like you don't exist? Still think it was worth it?" she asked whispering. Tony rolled his eyes; he could smell the lemon scent of her skin.

"I don't know why you're here but you need to stop causing trouble." A man cleared his throat,

"You're meals sir." Tony leaned back and allowed the waiter to place their food down. Jeanne and Michael came back to the table,

"Ah good." He placed a drink in front of Alex and she stifled a groan. She looked at the meal in front of her,

"What is this?" she asked poking it with her fork.

"The chefs special. Dig in." Michael said as he tucked into his meal. Alex took a deep breath and started to eat. Every now and then she would look up at Tony and she saw that he was watching her, she winked at him, and he nearly choked. Jeanne slapped him on the back,

"Are you ok Tony?" she asked him, as he turned red and passed him a glass of water. Alex smiled.

"Yes. I'm fine Jeanne." He muttered as he drank his water and glared at Alex. Once the meal was done Michael turned to face Alex.

"So tell me Alex are you religious?" he asked her.

"Thought you already knew lots of things about me?" she replied.

"I do but I want to hear about you from you. So are you?" he asked her.

"No. But I don't believe in sex before marriage. Are you?" she asked him placing her hand underneath her chin as if she was genuinely interested in the answer.

"No. So why that certain belief?"

"My prom date tried to rape me." She replied, "I was actually saved by his best friend." Michael nodded in understanding, Tony could see her shoulders twitching, a sure sign that she was lying. Of course he already knew that she was lying, he looked around the table, Michael seemed to believe her and when he looked at Jeanne he saw a look of hatred and jealousy.

"No woman should be raped. It's a vile thing to happen to a woman. If a woman is going to have sex with you they should be wooed first. Has any man attempted to woo you?" he asked her.

"Yes. Many. They can never go the distance. They give up after a few months." She looked at him from underneath her eyelashes.

"Tell me Michael could you go the distance?" Alex asked him in a sultry voice. Tony nearly choked again, this time on his drink and Jeanne made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. Alex turned to look at Jeanne with a look of pure hatred,

"So tell me Jeanne, how did you get a good looking man like Tony? It can't have been because of your sparkling personality." Tony just looked at her but she ignored him, she'd had enough, no one made a fool out of either her or Tony.

"Michael are you going to let her talk to me this way?" she demanded of her brother but Michael was too busy staring at Alex. Alex smiled,

"You need your brother to stick up for you? Tell me do you know any decent surgeons at the hospital?" she asked the other woman. Jeanne glowered at Alex,

"Yes. Why?"

"Well you may need to book in some surgery." Jeanne looked at her in confusion, "You know to have that stick that's up your ass removed." Out the corner of her eye she could see Tony struggling to keep from laughing. But the shine was back in his eyes, _my work here is done_, she thought proudly to herself. Michael was openly laughing,

"Lighten up Jeannie. I'm sure Alex was just joking with you. Besides she's right. Dessert?"

"No. I'm on diet." Jeanne muttered. Alex's smile widened,

"Yes please." She turned to Jeanne, "You could also ask him to do something about your stomach while your under I suppose." Tony saw the malicious glint in Alex's eyes as she said this and really struggled not to laugh or smile. _It's like their fighting for my soul and so far Ellie is winning_ he thought to himself trying to imagine what a fight between these two would look like. Jeanne stood up,

"Come on Tony, we're leaving." Tony didn't move instead he looked at her,

"Come on Jeanne. I haven't been out in ages just sit back down." He looked at her, pleading with his eyes. She stood looking down at him and then sat back down as the desserts came. Alex looked at her cheesecake and dug in. Michael grinned,

"I like a woman with a healthy appetite." Alex blushed and stopped eating. "What?" he asked her when she stopped eating.

"I don't like people watching me while I eat." She muttered.

"Its kinda hard not to watch you. You eat like a farmyard animal." Jeanne muttered. Alex pushed her plate towards Tony,

"Would you like a bite Tony?" Tony looked at her scandalised, "I don't have germs Tony. Have a bite." She pushed the plate nearer to him. She picked up a fork and handed it to him, "You know its not very polite not to take a bite if someone offers it to you." her eyes glinted. Tony took the fork and stabbed the cheesecake with it and took a bite.

"Nice isn't it?" she asked him. Tony nodded and looked at Jeanne. _Wow. She looks pissed. But its well worth it_ he thought to himself as he helped himself to another bite of cheesecake. Alex smiled and joined him.

**A/N: I know this chapter is a bit patchy. But I wanted there to be some sort of tension between Alex and Jeanne. **


	14. What if?

**Two months later:**

It was a beautiful sunny day, the sea was a clear blue and as Jeanne peered over the side of her fathers boat she made a decision. Standing up she walked along the wooden deck and knocked on an elegant door. Tony opened the door scowling,

"What do you want Jeanne?" he snapped at her. He was well and truly sick of being cooped up indoors. Jeanne raised an eyebrow at him,

"I've decided you can come outside. I trust you enough to give you back sunshine." She smiled at him and it was his turn to raise an eyebrow,

"What's the catch Jeanne?" his investigator instincts niggling at him.

"You'll work with the deck hands. You know cleaning the boat and what have you." he frowned considering this. _At least I'll be outside and in the sun_ he smiled,

"Ok. When do I start?" Jeanne smiled,

"Right now." Tony practically ran from the small room and went to find the nearest deck hand. Jeanne continued to smile as she watched Tony frantically searching for someone to tell him what to do. She lazily walked back towards the front of the boat and sat down on her lounger. She hadn't been there long when her sun was suddenly obstructed. She placed a hand over her eyes and peered up at the cause of the blockage.

"Michael. What are you doing here?" she asked him. She didn't like it when he just appeared. It usually meant that he was after something.

"I need a holiday and I would like Alex to join me." He stated matter of factly. Jeanne rolled her eyes,

"Your still not with her are you? I thought you would have gotten bored by now. I don't like her Michael."

"Yes I am. I don't like Tony but you don't see me complaining. Now she will be arriving tomorrow morning and I want you to be nice to her. Are we clear?" Jeanne opened her mouth to say something but seeing the look she was getting she just nodded instead.

**Alex's apartment:**

She was looking through all of her drawers and she just couldn't find what she was looking for. She stood up sighing,

"Damn it!" she grabbed her coat and ran out of the door and headed to her other house. Once she was there she opened the door and hurried up the stairs and opened her wardrobe, stood up onto her tiptoes and stuck her hand near the back of the shelf. Her fingers groped around and she smiled,

"Ah ha! There it is." She pulled her hand back and flattened her feet. Looking at the box she smiled some more. She looked around her room and noted that nothing was out of place and that it just needed a good dusting. Shrugging her shoulders she went down the stairs and went out the door again. Putting the box onto her front seat she drove over to Tony's apartment. Once she was outside his apartment she made sure there was no one about and picked the lock, _can't ask Abby for her key again_, she thought to herself justifying her actions. Once she was inside she headed for his TV unit and stooped down near the drawer and pulled. Inside were his DVD's. She ran her fingers along the titles and decided on one of his box sets. Pulling it out she kept a hold of it and deftly left his apartment and going back to her own.

**The following morning:**

Alex stretched out on her bed and sighed, she had been up most of the night making sure that everything was in the right place as she was sure that Michael would one of his "associates" go through her apartment. She had already packed her little suitcase so she could have a lie in. She had just stepped out of the shower when there was a knock on her door,

"Who is it?" she asked through the door.

"Joey Perry. I'm an associate of Michael's." Alex peered through the peephole and then opened the door. She stepped aside,

"Come in. I'll be two minutes." Joey entered the apartment and looked at her quizzically. "What?" she snapped at him.

"Do I know you?" he asked her.

"No. Don't think so. Excuse me." She went into her bedroom and grabbed her suitcase. Taking a deep breath she went back into the living room, "Lets go." He nodded at her and the pair left the apartment. It didn't take long to get to the marina after an uncomfortable journey. As soon as the car stopped she jumped out and grabbed her suitcase. She practically ran down the gangplank and stopped smiling when she saw Michael.

"Hi." She said rather breathlessly.

"Hi yourself." He smiled at her and kissed her. "Come on. I'll show you your room." He said after a few moments. He grabbed her suitcase and Alex followed him onto the boat. They walked along the side of the boat and he stopped in front of one of four doors. "This is you. I'm next to you on the right, Tony is on the left and Jeanne is next to him." Alex smiled and took the suitcase off him.

"Thanks." She walked into the room and nearly dropped the suitcase the room was huge. It had a door to the left which she assumed meant her room was joined with Tony's but there wasn't one on the right. She could probably fit her living room into this room. It had its own bathroom and no windows. She placed her suitcase onto the bed and started to unpack and put her clothes away. When she reached the items she was looking for she pulled them out and opened the other door. Walking into his room she put them on the bed and went back to her unpacking.

Tony had been working all day so he hadn't seen Alex come aboard, he knew she was coming but Jeanne had made sure that he had been busy when she had arrived. He walked into his room sweaty and very tired. Deciding to jump straight into the shower he quickly stripped off his clothes and turned the shower on. Once it was the correct temperature he stepped in and let the streams of water wash away the grime and his tiredness. After ten minutes he climbed out and grabbed a white towel to tie around his waist. He was about to flop onto his bed when he saw two boxes on it. He grinned when he saw what they were, a portable DVD player and his _Magnum P.I_ box set. _Ellie has to be_ he thought to himself. He quickly towelled himself dry and changed into jogging bottoms and a t-shirt. He opened the door that joined his room and peered in. Alex was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling with her arm draped over her eyes.

"Ellie?" he asked quietly just in case she was sleeping.

"Tony?" she asked without lifting her arm. He stepped into the room and looked around the room. He smiled when he saw that she had locked the main door to her room. "How can I help you?" she asked him.

"Just wanted to say thanks for bringing me the DVD player and _Magnum_." He saw her smile,

"That's ok." He frowned,

"You ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Just a headache. Been building since Joey picked me up." She rolled her eyes, even though he couldn't see her eyes he could tell from the tone of her voice.

"I'll leave you to it then." He said as he turned back towards the doorway, she sat up,

"I didn't say you could leave." She said grinning. He turned back towards her and walked over to her bed. "So what you been up to?"

"Nothing. Jeanne has finally allowed me out in the sun. Working as a deck hand but I'm not complaining. What's that smell?" he asked crinkling his nose.

"Yeah that would be me. Vanilla." He leaned forward and sniffed her.

"That's gross. It's like a mixture of lemon and vanilla. Why are you using vanilla?" he asked her secretly mortified that she had changed her scent.

"Michael doesn't like the smell of lemons but he likes vanilla. It's actually starting to make me gag. Its too sweet."

"So why are you using it for?" he asked her, even though he already knew the answer. Alex just looked at him and fell back against her pillows and placing her arm over her eyes again. Tony looked at her,

"Are you sure you don't want me to leave? Get you something?"

"Yeah I'm sure. Don't need anything. Just want you to talk to me." She replied.

"Ok. So how about we continue with our questions?" he asked her, before she could reply he said, "I'll go first. How's Michael treating you?"

"He's treating me fine. Keeps trying to seduce me and failing. Why do you think he brought me here? He's trying to prove that he can go the distance. To be honest I wanna gag every time I'm near him. How's it going with you and the witch? Sorry I meant Jeanne." Tony decided then to move and lie next to her.

"Not well. She's even more distrustful. We barely speak and we definitely don't have sex or kiss each other. Since Michael's been here they've been going off the boat every weekend. Probably to discuss the family business. Which actually leads me to my next question. Why are you here? Really?"

"I've already told you why I'm here. NCIS and me just weren't mixing after you left. In fact I think NCIS has gone a bit off its rocker. What are your investigator instincts telling you?" she asked him.

"They're in overdrive about a number of things. The main one being you. I think you're here undercover to bring down their family business." Alex moved her arm away from her face again and peered at him,

"You really think that's why I'm here?" Tony nodded,

"Why else? You have no reason to be here other than that. You seem to be doing a better job than I did. You haven't fallen in love with him. Keep it up. I'll help you as much as I can…" he trailed off. Alex continued to look at him,

"You can't think of any other reason for my being here? At all?" he nodded, "I think your skills need sharpening. But I could definitely use the help. Do you miss it?" she placed her arm over her eyes again and heard him sigh,

"Am I that obvious? But I can't go back." She heard the resigned tone in his voice and sat up,

"Would you go back? If I told you right now that we could both leave and both have our jobs back would you take it?" she asked him. He sat up and stared at her,

"So you're here for me?" he asked her. She looked at him deciding if she should tell the truth or not.

"Would you like me to be?" she asked him. Without answering he stood up and left her room. "Guess not." She muttered before she went into her shower. She had to get changed for the party.

**The party:**

At the party Alex wasn't allowed anywhere near Tony, but she was twirled and introduced to everyone that came onto the boat. The only problem was that she didn't have a hidden camera anywhere on her person and she had a brain like a sieve. All the guests were a basic who's who of the gun running business. While Michael was talking Alex let her mind wonder, there was no way she was going to get off this boat without some sort of excuse, she would never remember all of these peoples names and she desperately wanted to talk to Tony again but since he had left her room Jeanne had made sure that they apart and that Tony's attention was completely on her. Which wasn't all that difficult as she was in the lowest cut dress Alex had ever seen. Most of the men on the boat were looking at her but Tony didn't seem that interested. She was snapped out of her daydream when Michael touched her arm,

"Are you ok?" he asked her in his thickening French accent. She frowned at him,

"Are you drunk Michael?" she asked him. She knew he was, as his accent was getting more and more obvious.

"I am a little. Would you like to dance?"

"No. I'm a little tired. Still got that migraine. Would you mind if I left?" she asked him as sweetly as she could. Truth be told she felt sick. Michael nodded and she kissed him on the cheek as she said good night.

Tony had been watching Alex all night. He couldn't help it; his mind was still reeling from her semi-confession about being there for him. She hadn't explicitly said it but he could tell. He watched her leave and thought about what she had said, "_If I told you right now that we could both leave and both have our jobs back would you take it?_" he had wanted with all of his heart to say yes and then the pair of them leave the boat. But he knew they couldn't do that. _At least not yet_ he thought to himself. He knew that Jeanne and Michael would be leaving the boat in the morning to do some "business"; he also knew that Alex would have to finish her undercover assignment. They needed more information about the business. He was deep in thought when Jeanne interrupted him,

"Tony. Tony!"

"What?" he asked her.

"Tomorrow night we'll be leaving again for the Med but first I would like you to accompany me on some business before we leave. Are you happy to do that?" she asked him. He raised an eyebrow, he hadn't long been made a deckhand and now she was asking him to escort her to a business deal. _Ellie must really be getting to her_ he thought to himself.

"Why?"

"Tony. Don't knock a gift horse in the mouth." She turned back to the people she had been talking to, "We'll be there."


	15. Horror

A/N: This chapter contains hints towards a rape. It doesn't go into graphic detail but it is still hinted at. Very sorry. This won't happen again. Just a little pre-warning.

Alex rested her head onto her pillow and sighed. It had been a really long day and she was exhausted from trying to keep up her pretences. Her head was throbbing and she just couldn't get the ache out of her neck and shoulders. She felt so drained it was humiliating, _but it does take a lot of energy lying to someone 24/7_ she reasoned with herself. _Yes but this isn't about the job or you wouldn't have taken it in the first place. This is about Tony and you know it_ the little devil on her shoulder whispered. Alex couldn't argue with that. _I must admit I thought he would have been easier to persuade to come back to work, he really loved his job and I really didn't think it would take this long. Need to eat something or I'm gonna be sick. Need to talk to Jenny too and Gibbs. What to do first…_ she felt her eyes drift close without doing any of the things she wanted to. She was rudely awoken a couple of hours later by someone climbing on top of her. Disorientated she tried to peel back her eyelids but she just couldn't quite manage it. _This isn't right. I'm fighting way to hard to open my eyes. That son of a bitch! He drugged me!_ Her brain was well and truly awake now but she just couldn't get her arms or eyelids to co-operate with what she wanted them to do. She would have grunted in frustration if she could have, but nothing about her body was her own. Somewhere in her brain she knew exactly what was going on, he had already pulled down her panties and was proceeding to shove himself into her. She tried to resist with all she could but she just couldn't. _I think I really will be sick I need help. I need Tony to come through that door and get him off me!_ She thought wildly. No sooner had it started than it was over, Alex had completely shut down when she had realised there was no way she could stop him and no one around was coming to her rescue.

**The next day:**

Alex woke up feeling very violated. She wanted off this boat and back on dry land. She wanted Tony to come with her and the pair of them to go back to NCIS. She wanted a shower. Her head was still throbbing and as she gingerly walked into her bathroom she decided she was going to do a rape kit. _I'll get the son of a bitch_ she thought bitterly to herself. She had absolutely no idea what time it was as she didn't wear a watch and no one had come to wake her up. As she worked with what she had she threw up violently into the toilet and then proceeded to run the shower so that she could get the feel of him off of her. While she was in the shower she took an inventory of any injuries that he might have given her. She looked on her thighs and noticed that he had bitten her; she also had a few new bruises but nothing that she couldn't cover up. _The bastards' smart_ she thought to herself. She hadn't even realised that she had started to cry.

Tony looked at his watch for the fifth time in an hour. It was the middle of the afternoon and he hadn't seen Alex all day. _This isn't like her. I wonder if she's all right?_ He was constantly questioning if he should go and check on her. He had decided against it as Jeanne had been hovering all day but when he saw how satisfied Michael had looked when he had first seen him that morning. He knew something was up but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. He decided on a new tactic he would ask Michael where Alex was.

"Michael you seen Alex today?" he asked the other man and the way he smiled put Tony's teeth on edge.

"No not this afternoon. Why do you ask?" Tony's ears perked up at the way Michael had worded his reply.

"I was just wondering. She sometimes helps me out. Haven't seen her. Was getting worried I guess for no good reason." Tony smiled and hoped that this was enough for Michael to walk away. After a couple of moments of Michael scrutinising him he walked away with an arrogant confidence. Tony clenched his fists and ground his teeth together but resisted the urge to hit the other man. When he was sure the man was completely out of sight he looked at his watch again. His shift on deck was over and he hurried back to his room, had a quick shower and then knocked on the adjoining door. Not getting a reply he opened it and looked in. Her room was a total mess and but seemed empty.

On the deck:

"I want to go home! Now!" Alex screamed at him, she had already packed her bags and trashed the room. She had even placed Tony's gun in the small of her back just in case he tried to come anywhere near her.

"Now Alex stop over-reacting. Tell me what's wrong?" Michael asked her as he took a step closer towards her. She backed away as Tony came around the corner.

"Don't come anywhere near me you son of a bitch! Now let me off!" Alex demanded. As Tony took in the scene he saw that Alex had a wild look about her that he had never seen in her eyes before. If she had been a dog she would have bared her teeth at Michael, but since she wasn't he could see that she was fighting some sort of urge. Her hand kept twitching and she kept putting her right hand behind her back. _Uh oh_ he thought. He hurried towards the communications cabin and quickly scribbled a note before the new shift arrived, he dialled the number for the directors office and left. Hurrying back towards the deck he saw that every time Michael took a step towards Alex she would flinch and back away from him.

"If you don't let me off I'm going to shoot you." Alex said threateningly. Michael looked scared for all of a split second and then he grinned,

"You don't know how to use a gun." As Michael advanced towards her Tony decided to intervene.

"Hey! What's up with you two?" he was finally able to take in Alex's appearance. She looked scared and angry all at the same time. Her eyes had a trapped in headlights look.

"I want to go home and Never set foot on a boat ever again. But idiot over there won't let me off." Alex ground out through her teeth. Tony looked at Michael and said,

"Look. Why don't you let her off and give her chance to cool down and then you two can sort out your problems like adults?" Michael seemed to ponder this and then said,

"Ok. I'll let you off. Then I'll call you once my business is done and you can come back." Michael moved so that Alex could get off the boat. As she stepped onto the gangplank, she completely ignored Tony and stared at Michael,

"Don't bother calling me. We're done." She walked away from the boat and Michael just shrugged his shoulders,

"That's ok. I was getting bored of her anyway." He said as he passed Tony.

Alex's apartment:

Alex rushed home and threw her suitcase at the bottom of her stairs and taking them two at a time went towards her bedroom. She stripped off her clothes as she entered and went into the little bathroom and turned on the shower. For the next hour she scrubbed her body red raw with her lemon shower gel. She just had to get him off of her. When she finally got out she wrapped a blue towel around her now very sore body and went sat on her bed allowing herself to really cry. When she finally gained some of her composure, she quickly got dressed and went downstairs and opened up her suitcase. Taking out her homemade rape kit she went into the living room and found her black rucksack. Rummaging to the bottom she pulled out her gun and badge. She put her gun into the small of her back and her badge on her trousers. She put her hand back in and pulled out another badge. She flipped it open and saw that it was Tony's. She frowned; _where the Hell did I put his gun when I came in?_ She thought to herself. Hurrying back up her stairs she saw that it was on the floor next to her clothes. She hadn't even realised that it had fallen onto the floor. She had just wanted to get into the shower. She picked it up and clipped it onto her belt just above her left hip. She smiled, she felt safer already. She ran back down the stairs and grabbed her bag and then hurtled out of the door and headed for NCIS.

NCIS:

"Cynthia, could you call Gibbs up here please?"

"_Yes Director. Right away._"

"Thank you." the Director looked at the message she had in her hand. _Meeting at the docks. Don't know which one. Alex is acting strangely. Tony._ She smiled Alex had done her job. She had just sat down in her chair when Gibbs entered without even knocking.

"What?" he asked her.

"I've just received this message." She handed him the piece of paper and smiled as she saw him grin and then just as quickly frown.

"What does this mean? Alex is acting strangely."

"I don't know. I haven't heard from her. Have you?" Gibbs shook his head. "Do you have any idea about which dock he was on about?"

"I've had a couple of agents following Joey Perry. As soon as he moves we'll know. He's gonna be there." He took a breath and was about to say more when Cynthia interrupted.

"_Director. There's a Alex Larkin down in reception wanting to come up._" Jenny smiled,

"Let her in." the line went dead and Jenny looked at Gibbs, "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

Within five minutes Alex was sitting in Jenny's office.

"Are you ok?" Jenny asked, as Alex still hadn't spoken since she had arrived. She seemed distant.

"Yes. Just want to get back to work. You know see everyone." She smiled but it was strained.

"That's fine. But first I see your mission was successful." Jenny said smiling. Alex looked at her in confusion.

"It was? He's here? Coz the last time I saw him he was still on a boat." Alex replied looking around to see if Tony had been hiding. Now it was Jenny and Gibbs, who looked confused,

"You mean he's not with you?" Gibbs asked her. Alex shook her head,

"What's going on here?" she asked them.

"We got this." Jenny handed Alex the piece of paper, "Just before you arrived. We assumed that Tony was with you."

"No. He's not with me. In fact I don't think I completed my mission. That bitch has her claws in too deep. I thought my cover had been compromised, not by Tony of course, so I left." Alex muttered. She had been rehearsing this speech all the way from home.

"So why did he send this?" Jenny asked the younger agent.

"He said he would help me bring down the family. He must have gathered the intel and passed it on. I didn't really see him much before I left." Jenny seemed to be buying her story but she refused to look at Gibbs. "Look. Can I go? Just let me know where you need me for the take down and I'll happily go along." She asked as she stood up.

"Yeah. That's fine. I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you." Jenny smiled at her again and Alex left the office. She walked towards the elevator and pushed the button for Abby's lab.

Abby's lab:

Alex took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator. She was expecting a wave of sound as soon the doors had opened, but instead there was silence. She frowned, _what else has changed since I've been gone?_ She walked towards the lab wearily,

"Abby?" she called. "Hello? Abby?" she was in the main part of the lab and she couldn't see Abby. Alex groaned. She really wanted the stuff testing before she had to go to the docks. She was just about to leave when Abby came bounding into the lab and pulled her into a massive bear hug.

"I'm so pleased you're here! Where's Tony?" she asked looking around Alex as if she was hiding him.

"He's not with me Abby. Look could you run the DNA and all the usual things on this rape kit for me?" she asked pulling it out of her bag. Abby took it and frowned,

"Is this for a case?" she asked the smaller woman.

"No. This is purely pro bono. As a favour. I'd owe you another one." She smiled slightly at Abby.

"Is this yours?" Abby asked her. Alex nodded,

"Please don't tell anyone. I have a hunch and I just need it confirming." Abby hugged her again and said,

"I won't tell anyone. I'll let you know as soon as I have the results. I'll get right on it unless a case comes in." Alex nodded,

"That's fine. I can wait." She smiled slightly and left the lab.


	16. Undercover Angel

Alex went home knowing that she wouldn't actually be able to go back to work until that evening when they would be going to the docks. As she looked around her house she couldn't help but smile as an onslaught of memories hit her. Mainly of her and Tony play fighting or watching movies. Sighing she decided she would dust and generally have a spring clean since her house hadn't been lived in for months. Grabbing her hoover and a duster she started her spring-cleaning. After an hour her house was spotless, in fact it was cleaner that had been when she had first bought the place. Glancing around she didn't have a clue what do. She went upstairs, deciding to have a bath until she was needed. She was running her bath when her cell phone started to ring.

"Larkin."

"_It's Gibbs. Be ready to go in ten minutes_." He hung up and she stopped the bath. She pulled on a pair of comfortable jeans and top. Grabbing her NCIS windbreaker with the tight sleeves she pulled it on and tucking the waistband underneath. Putting Tony's gun in the small of her back she placed her own into her gun holster. She looked at her watch she had five minutes to spare. Going downstairs she walked out of her door and decided to wait. It wasn't until she was outside that she realised that it was dark. No sooner had she thought this then Gibbs had the car at her feet. Climbing in she calmed her internal turmoil and was ready to go.

**Docks:**

Tony was pacing along the deck of the ship. He had no gun and he felt very vulnerable and exposed. Jeanne seemed completely at ease and oblivious to his distress and she seemed quite happy with the situation. He rolled his eyes as Michael joined them along with Joey Perry.

"Right. Let's get this done. Quickly." Michael muttered. He stepped off the boat and offered his hand to Jeanne. They walked along the gangway and didn't bother to see if Joey and Tony were behind them. Sighing Tony followed the trio and with every step he couldn't help but feel that something terrible was going to happen.

Gibbs looked around the docks and his gut was churning.

"Larkin go into the warehouse and check to make sure that we have no unexpected visitors." Alex nodded and headed into the warehouse while the rest of the team went off in different directions. Alex swung her flashlight around and saw a rickety looking staircase and started to climb them. Reaching the top she looked around and saw a solitary figure standing near a window holding a sniper rifle. She approached him without making a sound and tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned around she punched him in the face causing him to drop the rifle. They scuffled for a couple of minutes until he held her up and pushed her out the window. They were approaching from various directions when Gibbs and everyone else looked up to the sound of breaking glass. He looked away and shouted, "NCIS! FREEZE!" the arms dealers went to run but Ziva and McGee already had them surrounded thanks to the little device that McGee had set up to make any terrorists think that they were surrounded when they actually weren't. Gibbs held his gun towards Michael when he looked up towards the window. He hadn't heard the crash of a falling body that usually accompanies the sound of a window breaking. He smiled when he saw that whoever it was, was holding onto their assailants collar and was trying to pull that person out of the window. When it looked as though gravity would win on the one dangling, the person managed to pull the assailant out of the window and position him or herself on top of the person as they hurtled into a car roof.

Tony heard the sound of glass breaking and then a few moments later the sound of a body hitting the roof of a car. He was hovering near the gangway as Jeanne had told him but he still didn't like what he was hearing. When he heard Gibbs shout he let out his breath in a whoosh when he saw a figure start to run away from the gunfight that had just erupted. Deciding to go after the person he took off after the figure.

Groaning Alex got off the man who tried to kill her and began to gingerly walk towards Gibbs and the rest of the team when she saw a figure start to run off in the opposite direction. Going after the figure seemed like the logical choice, as there appeared to be a gunfight going on and she had lost her weapon and she only had Tony's. Jogging after the assailant she rounded some haulage boxes and heard someone sneaking around. Pulling Tony's gun out she grabbed the muzzle and hit the man on the back of the head knocking him out. Putting it back she then ran after the original figure she had seen. She hadn't gone far when she saw another shadow start to give chase, slowing down to see if she could see their face she smiled to herself when she saw Tony. Putting on a burst of speed, as her legs groaned in protest, she soon caught up with him and not breaking stride pulled out his gun and said,

"Hi. Here." she handed him the gun but they hadn't noticed that the figure had stopped and pulled out a gun. Alex heard the shot first and launched herself in front of Tony knocking him sideways. Getting up she dusted herself down and groaned,

"Are you ok?" Tony asked her.

"Yeah. Come on, whoever did that is getting away!" she replied again running after the person who had shot at them. Tony watched her go he could have sworn she had been shot before but there was running after the bad guy. Getting to his feet he chased after her. She was slowly gaining on the person she was pursuing when Jeanne stepped out in front of her.

"Stop right there." Alex stopped and raised her hands. "So where is he?" she asked Alex.

"Who?"

"Tony." They could hear running footsteps and Tony came into view. "Ah good. You're both here." Jeanne grinned at the pair of them and Tony flinched.

"What do you want Jeanne?" Alex asked her annoyed that she had been stopped from chasing the suspect.

"I'm here to tell you a little story." Alex raised an eyebrow and smirked at her,

"This should be boring." Jeanne scowled at her and slapped her hard across the face but Alex didn't even hiss she just smirked even more.

"Its about a marine that was beaten to death with a tyre iron. The killers were so clever that they killed him outside on blue plastic sheeting and then dragged him up some wooden steps and placed in the living room. The room was then splattered with blood and other bits of carnage around the body. It was a total set-up knowing that NCIS would be called out. How do you like it so far?" she asked them and Alex just sighed before saying,

"Lacks imagination."

"Anyway when one of the investigators came back she was hit on the back of the head by the accomplice. They never did discover who did it…until now. It was me and Joey."

"Why Jeanne?" Tony asked her.

"Because you messed with my life! So I decided to mess with yours! I did a pretty good job of it too. Until she came along. It was the only way I could think of to contact you again. I knew you would discover that he worked for my company. To be honest I never thought you would actually leave your job to be with me. I had a contingency plan in case you didn't of course but you did and I have had my revenge. Well my brother did it for me. Didn't he?" Jeanne asked Alex. Tony turned to look at her but she had gone white as a ghost.

"What is she on about Alex?"

"I don't know. She's fucked three ways towards the weekend Tony!" Tony just looked at her in confusion. Jeanne just smiled but didn't elaborate instead she walked up to Alex and put the gun to her head.

"Now Tony you're going to back away from here and toss your gun over there." She said waving her gun towards the back of the metal crate. Tony tossed his gun and Alex sighed. "You are coming with me." She started to pull Alex down a gangway but Alex was dragging her feet.

"I don't think so!" she said hooked her foot between two planks of wood and she fell hard onto her ass just as she heard a snapping sound. Her vision blanked out and Jeanne screamed in frustration.

"You stupid bitch!"

"Its not like you have anywhere to go! You walked down the wrong gangway! Now who's the stupid bitch?" Alex muttered and saw three distinct figures walking towards her with their weapons drawn. "Well it's about damn time!" she called out.

"Alex get down!" Gibbs shouted. Alex flattened herself onto the gangway and heard three shots and then a body fall down. Knowing they had killed Jeanne Alex breathed a sigh of relief and she managed to remain conscious long enough for the ambulance to arrive. The paramedics carefully removed her foot from between the two planks of wood and then they loaded her into the ambulance.

"Who's coming with her?" one of them asked the team.

"I am." Tony replied and climbed into the back of the ambulance. Gibbs and the others nodded and left to get back into the car. On the way to the hospital Tony noticed that there was blood on the floor, "Hey where is that blood coming from?" he asked the paramedic that was in the back.

"I don't know. I thought she just had a broken ankle."

"Pull her jacket off." The paramedic pulled the jacket and gasped. She had indeed been shot, in the shoulder and all the blood was pooling around her right wrist. When he had pulled her jacket off all of the blood had dropped onto the floor of the ambulance.

"Hey Hank! You'd better hurry. She's lost a lot of blood." The driver sped up and they arrived at the hospital where she was quickly whisked away to surgery.

**Three hours later:**

Tony was pacing in the waiting room. He wasn't good at waiting when a doctor approached them.

"Are you all here for Special Agent Larkin?" they nodded, "Well she's going to be fine. We removed the bullet and set her ankle. She's going to be in here for a couple of days."

"Can we see her?" Tony asked.

"One at a time and very quickly." The doctor left the room and Tony followed. As he entered her room he was surprised to see her hooked up to so many machines but the constant beeping noises let him know that she was alive and on the mend. He walked over to her bed and sat down,

"Ellie I need you to forgive me. I can't believe I was stupid enough to think she could actually forgive me. I know you can't hear me but I just want you to know that when you get out we're going to being having a long chat. You saved me Ellie. You're my undercover angel." He was about to leave when he felt her squeeze his little finger and he smiled knowing that they would be ok…eventually.

**A/N: Sorry this took my so long but I went on holiday for a couple of weeks, RL interrupted and I had kinda stalled. But I hopefully I'll be updating a bit more now that I seem to be back in the groove. Thank you for sticking with me. Reviews of any kind are muchly appreciated **


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